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Adolfo de la Huerta
38th President of Mexico
In office 1 June 1920 – 30 November 1920
Preceded by	Venustiano Carranza
Succeeded by	Álvaro Obregón
Personal details
Born	(1881-05-26)26 May 1881[1] Guaymas, Sonora
Died	9 July 1955(1955-07-09) (aged 74) Mexico DF
Nationality	Mexican
Political party	Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), later National Cooperativist Party (PNC)
Spouse(s)	Clara Oriol

Felipe Adolfo de la Huerta Marcor (26 May 1881 – 9 July 1955) was a Mexican politician and interim President of Mexico from 1 June to 1 December 1920.

Adolfo de la Huerta

As Governor of the northern state of Sonora he led the Revolution of Agua Prieta that put an end to the presidency of Venustiano Carranza who was killed during the revolt. It was then that de la Huerta was appointed interim President by congress.

Pancho Villa and his army surrendered during de la Huerta's presidency. De la Huerta became the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit, and in that role, negotiated the De la Huerta-Lamont Treaty.

De la Huerta started a failed revolt in 1923 against president Álvaro Obregón- whom he denounced as corrupt-^[2] after Obregon endorsed Calles as his successor.^[3] Catholics, conservatives and a considerable portion of the army officers, who felt Obregón had reversed Carranza's policy of favoring the army at the expense of the farmer-labor sector, supported de la Huerta.^[3] With his superb organizing ability and popular support, Obregón crushed the rebellion and forced De La Huerta into exile.^[3] On 7 March 1924, de la Huerta fled to Los Angeles and Obregón ordered the execution of every rebel officer with a rank higher than a major.^[3]

De la Huerta should not be confused with Victoriano Huerta, "The Jackal", who was President of Mexico in 1913 to 1914.

References[link]

v t e Presidents of the United Mexican States Guadalupe Victoria Vicente Guerrero José María Bocanegra Pedro Vélez Anastasio Bustamante Melchor Múzquiz Manuel Gómez Pedraza Valentín Gómez Farías Antonio López de Santa Anna Miguel Barragán José Justo Corro Nicolás Bravo Francisco Javier Echeverría Valentín Canalizo José Joaquín de Herrera Mariano Paredes José Mariano Salas Pedro María de Anaya Manuel de la Peña Mariano Arista Juan Bautista Ceballos Manuel María Lombardini Martín Carrera Rómulo Díaz Juan Álvarez Hurtado Ignacio Comonfort Félix María Zuloaga Manuel Robles Pezuela Miguel Miramón José Ignacio Pavón Benito Juárez Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada José María Iglesias Juan N. Méndez Porfirio Díaz Manuel González Flores Francisco León de la Barra Francisco I. Madero Pedro Lascuráin Victoriano Huerta Francisco S. Carvajal Venustiano Carranza Eulalio Gutiérrez Roque González Garza Francisco Lagos Cházaro Adolfo de la Huerta Álvaro Obregón Plutarco Elías Calles Emilio Portes Gil Pascual Ortiz Rubio Abelardo Luján Rodríguez Lázaro Cárdenas Manuel Ávila Camacho Miguel Alemán Valdés Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo López Mateos Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Luis Echeverría José López Portillo Miguel de la Madrid Carlos Salinas de Gortari Ernesto Zedillo Vicente Fox Felipe Calderón Vice President of Mexico

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Coordinates: 21°14′08″S 49°38′38″W / 21.23556°S 49.64389°W / -21.23556; -49.64389

Location of Adolfo

Adolfo is a Brazilian city located in the interior of the state of São Paulo in the region (região) of São José do Rio Preto.

• Founded: 1959
• Elevation: 443 m
• Population: 3,437 inhabitants
• Area: 211.4 km²
• Population density: 16.26hab/km²
• Postal code: 15230-000

This geographical article relating to the state of São Paulo is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

La Huerta, or Huerta de Mataquito is a village (aldea) or small town near the north bank of the Mataquito River, in the Hualañé commune, in the Curicó Province, in the Maule Region, of Chile. It is 45 kilometers west of the city of Curicó.

Nearby to the northeast is the Cerro Chiripilco and the monument commemorating the death of Lautaro in the Battle of Mataquito that is thought to have been fought at its foot near the Mataquito River.

Source[link]

• Francisco Solano Asta Buruaga y Cienfuegos, Diccionario geográfico de la República de Chile, Segunda Edicion Corregida y Aumentada, Nueva York, D. Appelton y Compania, 1899. Pg. 319, Huerta de Mataquito

External links[link]

• Google Satelite Map of La Huerta, Hualañé commune, Curico Province, Maule Region, Chile Note photos of nearby Cerro Chiripilco and the monument commemorating the death of Lautaro.

Coordinates: 35°04′00″S 71°40′00″W / 35.0667°S 71.6667°W / -35.0667; -71.6667

This Maule Region location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (January 2010)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia. (March 2009) Don't speak Spanish? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|es|Álvaro Obregón}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Álvaro Obregón
39th President of Mexico
In office 1 December 1920 – 30 November 1924
Preceded by	Adolfo de la Huerta
Succeeded by	Plutarco Elías Calles
Personal details
Born	(1880-02-19)19 February 1880 Siquisiva, Navojoa, Sonora
Died	17 July 1928(1928-07-17) (aged 48) San Ángel, Mexico City
Nationality	Mexican
Political party	Laborist Party (PL)
Spouse(s)	María Tapia
Religion	Spiritualist[1]

General Álvaro Obregón Salido (19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term.

A successful Sonoran chickpea farmer and municipal president of Huatabampo, Obregón first entered military service in 1912 as a supporter of the regime of Francisco I. Madero against a rebellion in Chihuahua led by Pascual Orozco. Following La decena trágica in 1913, when Madero was assasinated, Obregón offered his military services to the Sonoran government to the regime of Victoriano Huerta, Madero's murderer. He supported Sonora's decision to follow Venustiano Carranza as leader of a revolution against the Huerta regime, and Carranza appointed Obregón commander-in-chief of the revolutionary forces in northwestern Mexico. Following tensions with the caudillo Pancho Villa, Carranza ordered Obregón to fight against troops loyal to both Villa and Emiliano Zapata, both former military allies of Carranza.

Following the pacification of the Villistas and Zapatistas in 1915, Carranza appointed Obregón as his minister of war. In 1917, however, Obregón resigned from the cabinet in order to distance himself from Carranza and position himself to use his massive popularity as a military victor in the Mexican Revolution to run for the presidency in 1920. When Carranza attempted to arrest Obregón on false pretenses in order to ensure that Carranza's preferred candidate won the 1920 election, Obregón launched a revolt against Carranza, in which Carranza was assassinated. Adolfo de la Huerta served out the rest of Carranza's term until elections could be held, and Obregón won the election with overwhelming support.

Obregón's presidency was the first stable presidency since the launching of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. He oversaw massive educational reform (with Mexican muralism flourishing), moderate land reform, and labor laws sponsored by the increasingly powerful Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers. In 1923–24, Obregón's finance minister, Adolfo de la Huerta, launched a rebellion against his regime in Veracruz and Jalisco, forcing Obregón to return to the battlefield to crush the rebellion.

In 1924, Obregón's hand-picked successor, Plutarco Elías Calles, was elected as president, and although Obregón ostensibly retired to Sonora, he remained influential under Calles. In 1926, the Mexican Congress eliminated the one-term term limit for the presidency, allowing Obregón to run for re-election in 1928. Obregón won the election, but before he could begin his term, he was assassinated by José de León Toral, a Roman Catholic angered by the Calles government's treatment of Catholics.

Early years, 1880–1911[link]

Obregón was born in Siquisiva, Sonora, Municipality of Navojoa, the son of Francisco Obregón and Cenobia Salido. Francisco Obregón had once owned a substantial estate, but his business partner supported Emperor Maximilian during the French intervention in Mexico (1861–1867), and the family's estate was therefore confiscated by the Liberal government in 1867.^[2] Francisco Obregón died in 1880, the year of Álvaro Obregón's birth, leaving Álvaro to be raised in poverty by his mother and his older sisters Cenobia, María, and Rosa.^[3]

During his childhood, he worked on the family farm and became acquainted with the Mayo people who also worked there. He attended a school run by his brother José in Huatabampo and thus received an elementary education. He spent his teenage years working a variety of jobs, before finding permanent employment in 1898 as a lathe operator at the sugar mill owned by his maternal uncles in Navolato, Sinaloa.^[3]

In 1903, he married Refugio Urrea and in 1904, he left the sugar mill to sell shoes door-to-door, and then to become a tenant farmer. By 1906, he was in a position to buy his own small farm, where he grew chickpeas. The next year was tragic for Obregón as his wife and two of his children died, leaving him a widower with two small children, who were henceforth raised by his three older sisters. In 1909, Obregón invented a chickpea harvester and soon founded a company to manufacture these harvesters, complete with a modern assembly line. He successfully marketed these harvesters to chickpea farmers throughout the Mayo Valley.^[3]

Military career, 1911–1915[link]

Early military career, 1911–1913[link]

Obregón entered politics in 1911 with his election as municipal president of the town of Huatabampo. Obregón expressed little sympathy for the Anti-reelectionist movement launched by Francisco I. Madero in 1908–1909 in opposition to President Porfirio Díaz. Thus, when Madero began the Mexican Revolution in November 1910 by issuing his Plan of San Luis Potosí, Obregón did not join the struggle against Porfirio Díaz.^[4]

Madero succeeded in defeating Porfirio Díaz and thus became President of Mexico in November 1911.^[4]

Pascual Orozco (1882–1915), who fought with Francisco I. Madero (1873–1913) in 1910, only to launch a rebellion against him in Chihuahua in 1911. Obregón's first experience in the military was supporting pro-Madero forces under Victoriano Huerta (1850–1916) against Orozco's rebellion.

Obregón became a supporter of Madero shortly after Madero became President of Mexico. In March 1912, Pascual Orozco, a general who had fought with Madero during the Mexican Revolution, but had grown disaffected with Madero, launched a revolt against Madero's regime in Chihuahua with the financial backing of Luis Terrazas, a former Governor of Chihuahua and the largest landowner in Mexico.^[4]

In April 1912, Obregón volunteered to join the local Maderista forces, the Fourth Irregular Battalion of Sonora, organized under the command of General Sanginés to oppose Orozco's revolt.^[5]

This Battalion supported federal troops under the command of Victoriano Huerta sent by Madero to crush Orozco's rebellion. Within weeks of joining the Battalion, Obregón displayed signs of military genius. Obregón disobeyed his superior's orders, but won several battles by luring his enemy into traps, surprise assaults, and encircling maneuvers.^[5]

Obregón was quickly promoted through the ranks and attained the rank of Colonel before resigning in December 1912, following victory over Orozco (with Orozco fleeing to the United States).^[6]

Obregón had intended to return to civilian life in December 1912, but then in February 1913, the Madero regime was overthrown in a coup d'état (known to Mexican history as La decena trágica) orchestrated by Victoriano Huerta, Félix Díaz, Bernardo Reyes, and Henry Lane Wilson, the United States Ambassador to Mexico. Huerta assumed the presidency.^[6]

Obregón immediately traveled to Hermosillo to offer his services to the government of Sonora in opposition to the Huerta regime. The Sonoran government refused to recognize the Huerta regime, and in early March 1913, Obregón was appointed chief of Sonora's War Department. In this capacity, he set out on campaign, and in a matter of days had managed to drive federal troops out of Nogales, Cananea, and Naco. He soon followed up by capturing the port city of Guaymas. He squared off against federal troops in May 1913 at the battle of Santa Rosa through an encirclement of enemy forces. As commander of Sonora's forces, Obregón won the respect of many revolutionaries who had fought under Madero in 1910–11, most notably Benjamín G. Hill.^[6]

[edit] Struggle against the Huerta Regime, 1913–1914

The Sonoran government was in contact with the government of Coahuila, which had also refused to recognize the Huerta regime and entered a state of rebellion. A Sonoran delegation headed by Adolfo de la Huerta traveled to Monclova to meet with the Governor of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza. The Sonoran government signed on to Carranza's Plan of Guadalupe, by which Carranza became "primer jefe" of the newly- proclaimed Constitutional Army. On 30 September 1913, Carranza appointed Obregón commander-in-chief of the Constitutional Army in the Northwest, with jurisdiction over Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, and Baja California.^[6]

Gen. Obregón and staff of Yaquis, c1913.

In November 1913, Obregón's forces captured Culiacán, thus securing the supremacy of the Constitutional Army in the entire area of Northwestern Mexico under Obregón's command.^[6]

Obregón and other Sonorans were deeply suspicious of Carranza's Secretary of War, Felipe Ángeles, because they considered Ángeles to be a holdover of the old Díaz regime. At the urging of the Sonorans (the most powerful group in Carranza's coalition following Obregón's victories in the Northwest), Carranza downgraded Ángeles to the position of Sub-Secretary of War.^[7]

In spite of his demotion, Ángeles formulated the rebel grand strategy of a three-prong attack south to Mexico City: (1) Obregón would advance south along the western railroad, (2) Pancho Villa would advance south along the central railroad, and (3) Pablo González Garza would advance south along the eastern railroad.^[8]

Obregón began his march south in April 1914. Whereas Pancho Villa preferred wild cavalry charges, Obregón was again more cautious. Villa was soon at odds with Carranza, and in May 1914, Carranza instructed Obregón to increase the pace of his southern campaign to ensure that he beat Villa's troops to Mexico City. Obregón moved his troops from Topolobampo, Sinaloa, to blockade Mazatlán, and then to Tepic, where Obregón cut off the railroad from Guadalajara, Jalisco, to Colima, thus leaving both of these ports isolated.^[9]

In early July, Obregón moved south to Orendaín, Jalisco, where his troops defeated federal troops, leaving 8000 dead, and making it clear that the Huerta regime was defeated. Obregón was promoted to major general. He continued his march south. Upon Obregón's arrival in Teoloyucan, Mexico State, it was clear that Huerta was defeated, and, on 11 August, on the mudguard of a car, Obregón signed the treaties that ended the Huerta regime. On 16 August 1914, Obregón and 18,000 of his troops marched triumphantly into Mexico City. He was joined shortly by Carranza, who marched triumphantly into Mexico City on 20 August.^[9]

In Mexico City, Obregón moved to extract revenge on his perceived enemies. He believed that the Mexican Catholic Church had supported the Huerta regime, and he therefore imposed a fine of 500,000 pesos on the church, to be paid to the Revolutionary Council for Aid to the People.^[10]

He also believed that the rich had been pro-Huerta, and he therefore imposed special taxes on capital, real estate, mortgages, water, pavement, sewers, carriages, automobiles, bicycles, etc.^[11] Special measure were also taken against foreigners. Some of these were deliberately humiliating: for example, he forced foreign businessmen to sweep the streets of Mexico City.^[12]

[edit] Break with Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, 1914

Tensions between Carranza and Pancho Villa grew throughout 1914, as Villa created a number of diplomatic incidents that Carranza was worried would invite outside intervention in the Mexican Revolution. On 8 July 1914, Villistas and Carrancistas had signed the Treaty of Torreón, in which they agreed that after Huerta's forces were defeated, 150 generals of the Revolution would meet to determine the future shape of the country. However, Carranza disliked Villa's insubordination so much that he refused to let Villa march into Mexico City in August. In September, Villa and Carranza formally split, and during this time Obregón paid a visit to Villa that nearly resulted in Villa's having Obregón shot.^[12]

Eulalio Gutiérrez (1881–1939), flanked by Francisco "Pancho" Villa (1878–1923) and Emiliano Zapata (1879–1919). Gutiérrez was appointed provisional President of Mexico by the Convention of Aguascalientes, a move that Venustiano Carranza (1859–1920) found intolerable. In the ensuing war, Obregón fought for Carranza against the Convention.

The Convention that the Carrancistas and Villistas had agreed to in the Treaty of Torreón went ahead at Aguascalientes on 5 October 1914. Carranza did not participate in the Convention of Aguascalientes because he was not a general, but, as a general, Obregón participated. The Convention soon split into two major factions: (1) the Carrancistas, who insisted that the Convention should follow the promise of the Plan of Guadalupe and restore the 1857 Constitution of Mexico; and (2) the Villistas, who sought more wide-ranging social reforms than set out in the Plan of Guadalupe. The Villistas were supported by Emiliano Zapata, leader of the Liberation Army of the South, who had issued his own Plan of Ayala, which called for wide-ranging social reforms. For a month and a half, Obregón maintained neutrality between the two sides, and tried to reach a middle ground that would avoid a civil war.^[13]

Eventually, it became clear that the Villistas/Zapatistas had prevailed at the Convention; Carranza, however, refused to accept the Convention's preparations for a "preconstitutional" regime, which Carranza believed was totally inadequate, and in late November, Carranza rejected the authority of the regime imposed by the Convention. Forced to choose sides, Obregón naturally sided with Carranza and left the Convention to fight for the Primer Jefe. He had made many friends amongst the Villistas and Zapatistas at the Convention, and was able to convince some of them to depart with him. On December 12, 1914, Carranza issued his Additions to the Plan of Guadalupe, which laid out an ambitious reform program, including Laws of Reform, in conscious imitation of Benito Juárez's Laws of Reform.^[13]

Battle with the Conventionists, 1915[link]

General Obregón.

Once again, Obregón was able to recruit loyal troops by promising them land in return for military service. In this case, in February 1915, the Constitutionalist Army signed an agreement with the Casa del Obrero Mundial ("House of the World Worker"), the labor union with anarcho-syndicalist connections which had been established during Francisco I. Madero's presidency. As a result of this agreement, six "Red Battalions" of workers were formed to fight alongside the Constitutionalists against the Conventionists Villa and Zapata. This agreement had the side effect of lending the Carrancistas legitimacy with the urban proletariat.^[13]

Obregón's forces easily defeated Zapatista forces at Puebla in early 1915. However, the Villistas remained in control of large portions of the country. Forces under Pancho Villa were moving towards the Bajío; Felipe Ángeles' forces occupied Saltillo and thus dominated the northeast; the forces of Calixto Contreras and Rodolfo Fierro controlled western Mexico; and forces under Tomás Urbina were active in Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí.^[14]

The armies of Obregón and Villa clashed in four battles, collectively known as the Battle of Celaya, the largest military confrontation in Latin American history before the Falklands War of 1982. The first battle took place on 6 April and 7 April 1915 and ended with the withdrawal of the Villistas. The second in Celaya, Guanajuato, took place between 13 April and 15 April, when Villa attacked the city of Celaya, but was repulsed. The third was the prolonged position battle of Trinidad and Santa Ana del Conde between 29 April and 5 June, which was the definitive battle. Villa was again defeated by Obregón, who lost his right arm in the fight.^[15]

Villa made a last attempt to stop Obregón's army in Aguascalientes on 10 July, but without success. Obregón distinguished himself during the Battle of Celaya by being one of the first Mexicans to comprehend that the introduction of modern field artillery, and especially machine guns, had shifted the battlefield in favor of a defending force. In fact, while Obregón studied this shift and used it in his defense of Celaya, generals in the World War I trenches of Europe were still advocating bloody and mostly failing mass charges.^[16]

Early political career, 1915–1920[link]

Minister of War in Carranza's Preconstitutional Regime, 1915–1916[link]

In May 1915, Carranza had proclaimed himself the head of what he termed a "Preconstitutional Regime" that would govern Mexico until a constitutional convention could be held. Carranza appointed Obregón as Minister of War in his new cabinet.^[16]

As Minister of War, Obregón determined to modernize and professionalize the Mexican military thoroughly. In the process, he founded a staff college and a school of military medicine. He also founded the Department of Aviation and a school to train pilots. Munitions factories were placed under the direct control of the military.^[16]

Break with Carranza, 1917–1920[link]

In September 1916, Carranza convoked a Constitutional Convention, to be held in Querétaro, Querétaro. He declared that the liberal 1857 Constitution of Mexico would be respected, though purged of some of its shortcomings.

However, when the Constitutional Convention met in December 1916, it contained only 85 conservatives and centrists close to Carranza's brand of liberalism, a group known as the bloque renovador ("renewal faction"). Against them were 132 more radical delegates who insisted that land reform be embodied in the new constitution.

Obregón now broke with Carranza and threw his considerable weight behind the radicals. He met with radical legislators, as well as the intellectual leader of the radicals, Andrés Molina Enríquez, and came out in favor of all their key issues. In particular, unlike Carranza, Obregón supported the land reform mandated by Article 27 of the constitution. He also supported the heavily anticlerical Articles 3 and 130 that Carranza opposed.^[16][17][18]

Shortly after swearing his allegiance to the new Constitution, Obregón resigned as Minister of War and retired to Huatabampo to resume his life as a chickpea farmer. He organized the region's chickpea farmers in a producer's league and briefly entertained the idea of going to France to fight on the side of the Allies in World War One. He made a considerable amount of money in these years, and also entertained many visitors. As the victorious general of the Mexican Revolution, Obregón remained enormously popular throughout the country.^[19]

By early 1919, Obregón had determined to use his immense popularity to run in the presidential election that would be held in 1920. Carranza announced that he would not run for president in 1920, but refused to endorse Obregón, instead endorsing an obscure diplomat, Ignacio Bonillas. Obregón announced his candidacy in June 1919. In August, he concluded an agreement with Luis Napoleón Morones and the Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers, promising that if elected, he would create a Department of Labor, install a labor-friendly Minister of Industry and Commerce, and issue a new labor law.^[20]

Obregón began to campaign in earnest in November 1919.^[21]

In the meantime, Carranza seemed determined to stop Obregón. At Carranza's behest, the Senate stripped Obregón of his military rank, a move which only increased Obregón's popularity. Then, Carranza ochestrated a plot in which a minor officer claimed that Obregón was planning an armed uprising against the Carranza regime. Obregón was forced to disguise himself as a railwayman and flee to Guerrero, where one of his former subordinates, Fortunato Maycotte, was governor. When the election was held, Bonillas defeated Obregón.^[22]

On 20 April 1920 Obregón issued a declaration in the town of Chilpancingo accusing Carranza of having used public money in support of Bonillas's presidential candidacy. He declared his allegiance to the Governor of Sonora, Adolfo de la Huerta, in revolution against the Carranza regime.^[22]

On 23 April, the Sonorans issued the Plan of Agua Prieta, which triggered a military revolt against the president. Obregón's Sonoran forces were augmented by troops under General Benjamín G. Hill and the Zapatistas led by Gildardo Magaña and Genovevo de la O. The revolt was successful and Carranza was deposed. On 20 May 1920, Carranza was killed in the state of Puebla in an ambush led by General Rodolfo Herrero as he fled from Mexico City to Veracruz on horseback.

For six months, from 1 June 1920 to 1 December 1920, Adolfo de la Huerta served as provisional president of Mexico until elections could be held.^[23] When Obregón was declared the victor, de la Huerta stepped down and assumed the position of Secretary of the Treasury in the new government.

President of Mexico, 1920–1924[link]

President Obregón. Note that he lost his right arm in the Battle of Celaya (1915), earning him the nickname of Manco de Celaya ("the one-armed man of Celaya").

Obregón's election as president essentially signaled the end of the violence of the Mexican Revolution. The death of Lucio Blanco in 1922 and the assassination of Pancho Villa in 1923 would eliminate the last remaining obvious challenges to Obregón's regime.

Educational reforms and cultural developments[link]

Obregón appointed José Vasconcelos (Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico who had been in exile 1915–1920 because of his opposition to Carranza) as his Secretary of Public Education.^[24] Vasconcelos undertook a major effort to construct new schools across the country. Over 1,000 rural schools were constructed, together with almost 2,000 public libraries.^[25]

Vasconcelos was also interested in promoting artistic developments. As such, Obregón's time as president saw the beginning of the art movement of Mexican muralism, with artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Roberto Montenegro invited to create murals expressive of the spirit of the Mexican Revolution on the walls of public buildings throughout Mexico.^[26]

Labor relations[link]

Obregón kept his August 1919 agreement with Luis Napoleón Morones and the Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers (CROM) and created a Department of Labor, installed a labor-friendly Minister of Industry and Commerce, and issued a new labor law.^[27]

Morones and CROM became increasingly powerful in the early 1920s and it would have been very difficult for Obregón to oppose their increased power. Morones was not afraid to use violence against his competitors, nearly eliminating the General Confederation of Workers in 1923.^[27]

CROM's success did not necessarily translate to success for all of Mexico's workers, and Article 123 of the Constitution of Mexico was enforced only sporadically. Thus, while CROM's right to strike was recognized, non-CROM strikes were broken up by the police or the army. And few Mexican workers got Sundays off with pay, or were able to limit their workday to eight hours.^[27]

Land reform[link]

Land reform was far more extensive under Obregón than it had been under Carranza. Obregón enforced the constitutional land redistribution provisions, and in total, 921,627 hectares of land were distributed during his presidency.^[27]

[edit] The Mexican Catholic Church during Obregón's presidency

Many leaders and members of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico were highly critical of the 1917 constitution. They especially criticized Article 3, which forbade religious instruction in schools, and Article 130, which adopted an extreme form of separation of church and state, including a series of restrictions on priests and ministers of all religions to hold public office, canvass on behalf of political parties or candidates, or to inherit from persons other than close blood relatives, etc.).^[27]

Although Obregón was suspicious of the Catholic Church, he was far less anti-clerical than his successor, Plutarco Elías Calles, whose policies would lead to the Cristero War (1926–29). For example, he sent Pope Pius XI congratulations upon his election in 1922, and in a private message to the pope, emphasized the "complementarity" of the aims of the Catholic Church and the Mexican Revolution.^[27]

In spite of Obregón's moderate approach, his presidency saw the beginnings of clashes between Catholics and supporters of the Mexican Revolution. Some bishops campaigned actively against land distribution and against the organization of workers into secular unions. Catholic Action movements were founded in Mexico in the wake of Pius XI's 1922 encyclical Ubi arcano, and supporters of the Young Mexican Catholic Action soon found themselves in violent conflict with CROM members.^[28] The most serious diplomatic incident occurred in 1923, when Ernesto Eugenio Filippi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, conducted an open-air religious service in spite of the fact that it was illegal to hold a religious service outside of a church. The government invoked Article 33 of the constitution and expelled Filippi from Mexico.^[29]

Mexico-U.S. relations[link]

As president, one of Obregón's top priorities was securing U.S. diplomatic recognition of his regime. Although he rejected the American demand that Mexico rescind Article 27 of the constitution, Obregón did make some concessions to the U.S. in order to gain recognition. It was particularly helpful when the Mexican Supreme Court, in a case brought by Texas Oil, declared that Article 27 did not apply retroactively. Furthermore, Finance Minister Adolfo de la Huerta signed a deal in which Mexico recognized a debt of $1.451 million to international bankers. Finally, at the Bucareli Conference, Obregón agreed to an American demand that Mexico would not expropriate any foreign oil companies, and in exchange, the U.S. recognized his government. Many Mexicans criticized Obregón as a sellout (entreguista) for his actions at the Bucareli Conference.^[29]

The de la Huerta rebellion, 1923–24[link]

Adolfo de la Huerta (1881–1955), the former Governor of Sonora under whose banner Obregón purportedly fought in 1920, and who served as Obregón's Finance Minister before launching a rebellion in 1923.

In 1923, Obregón endorsed Plutarco Elías Calles for president in the 1924 election (in which Obregón was not eligible to run). Finance Minister Adolfo de la Huerta (who had served as interim president in 1920, before stepping aside in favor of Obregón) believed that he deserved to be the next president and that Obregón was repeating Carranza's mistake of imposing his own candidate on the country. De la Huerta therefore accepted the nomination of the Cooperativist Party to be its candidate in the presidential elections.^[30]

De la Huerta then organized an uprising against Obregón. Over half of the army joined de la Huerta's rebellion, with many of Obregón's former comrades in arms now turning on him. Rebel forces massed in Veracruz and Jalisco.^[30]

In a decisive battle at Ocotlán, Jalisco, Obregón's forces crushed the rebel forces. Obregón hunted down many of his former friends and had them executed.^[31]

Following the crushing of the rebellion, Calles was elected president of Mexico and Obregón stepped down from office.

Later years, 1924–1928[link]

Following the election of Calles as president, Obregón returned to Sonora to farm. He led an "agricultural revolution" in the Yaqui Valley, where he introduced modern irrigation. Obregón expanded his business interests to include a rice mill in Cajeme, a seafood packing plant, a soap factory, tomato fields, a car rental business, and a jute bag factory.^[32]

Obregón remained in close contact with President Calles, whom he had installed as his successor, and was a frequent guest of Calles at Chapultepec Castle. This prompted fears that Obregón was intending to follow in the footsteps of Porfirio Díaz and that Calles was merely a puppet figure, the equivalent of Manuel González. These fears became acute in October 1926, when the Mexican Congress repealed term limits, thus clearing the way for Obregón to run for president in 1928.^[32]

Obregón returned to the battlefield for the period October 1926 to April 1927 to put down a rebellion led by the Yaqui people. This was somewhat ironic, because Obregón had first risen to military prominence commanding Yaqui troops whom he promised land, and the 1926–27 Yaqui rebellion was a demand for land reform. In all likelihood, Obregón participated in this campaign in order to prove his loyalty to the Calles government, to show his continued influence over the military, and also to protect his commercial interests in the Yaqui Valley, which had begun to suffer as a result of the increasing violence in the region.^[33]

Obregón formally began his presidential campaign in May 1927. CROM and a large part of public opinion were against his re-election, but he still counted on the support of most of the army and of the National Agrarian Party.

Two of Obregón's oldest allies, General Arnulfo R. Gómez and General Francisco "Pancho" Serrano, opposed his re-election. Serrano launched an anti-Obregón rebellion and was ultimately assassinated. Gómez later called for an insurrection against Obregón, and was also soon killed.^[34]

Obregón won the 1928 Mexican presidential election, but months before assuming the presidency he was assassinated. President Calles's harsh treatment of Roman Catholics had led to a rebellion known as the Cristero War, which broke out in 1926. As an ally of Calles, Obregón was hated by Catholics and was assassinated in a restaurant on 17 July 1928, shortly after his return to Mexico City, by José de León Toral, a Roman Catholic opposed to the government's policies on religious matters.^[35]

Honors[link]

Álvaro Obregón was awarded Japan's Order of the Chrysanthemum at a special ceremony in Mexico City. On 26 November 1924, Baron Shigetsuma Furuya, Special Ambassador from Japan to Mexico, conferred the honor on the President.^[36]

Legacy[link]

Obregón was uniquely honored by the genus name which identifies a small cactus indigenous to Mexico – Obregonia denegrii.^[37]

An imposing monument to Álvaro Obregón is located in the Parque de la Bombilla, Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo at Insurgentes, San Ángel, Mexico City. It is the largest monument to a Revolutionary figure.^[38]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Buchenau, Jurgen. (2011). The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution. Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Eggli, Urs and Leonard E. Newton. (2004). Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. Berlin: Springer. 10-ISBN 3540004890/10-ISBN 9783540004899; OCLC 248883002
• Katz, Friedrich. (1998). The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10-ISBN 0804730458/13-ISBN 9780804730457; 10-ISBN 0804730466/13-ISBN 9780804730464; OCLC 253993082
• Krauze, Enrique. (1997). Mexico: Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810–1996. New York: HarperCollins. 10-ISBN 0060163259/10-ISBN 9780060163259; OCLC 35128211
• Lomnitz-Adler, Claudio. (2001). Deep Mexico, Silent Mexico: an Anthropology of Nationalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 10-ISBN 0816632898/13-ISBN 9780816632893; OCLC 237566418
• Lucas, Jeffrey Kent (2010). The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. 13-ISBN 9780773436657/13-ISBN 0773436650; F1234.D585 L83 2010
• Slattery, Matthew. (1982). Felipe Ángeles and the Mexican Revolution. Parma Heights, Ohio: Greenbriar Books. 10-ISBN 0932970346/13-ISBN 9780932970343; OCLC 9108261
• Jose Antonio Villareal (1959) Pocho New York, NY: Anchor Books

Further reading[link]

• Hall, Linda B (1981). Álvaro Obregón: power and revolution in Mexico, 1911–1920. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 10-ISBN 0890961131/13-ISBN 9780890961131; OCLC 7202959
• Castro, Pedro (2009). Álvaro Obregón: Fuego y cenizas de la Revolución Mexicana. Ediciones Era – Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. ISBN 978-607-445-027-9 (ERA) – ISBN 978-607-455-257-7 (CNCA); Sitio de Pedro Castro
• Lucas, Jeffrey Kent (2010). The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. 13-ISBN 9780773436657/13-ISBN 0773436650; F1234.D585 L83 2010

External links[link]

	Mexico portal
	Biography portal
	Politics portal

• Admiring essay on the Battle of Celaya with a focus on the tactics used by General Obregón.

v t e Presidents of the United Mexican States Guadalupe Victoria Vicente Guerrero José María Bocanegra Pedro Vélez Anastasio Bustamante Melchor Múzquiz Manuel Gómez Pedraza Valentín Gómez Farías Antonio López de Santa Anna Miguel Barragán José Justo Corro Nicolás Bravo Francisco Javier Echeverría Valentín Canalizo José Joaquín de Herrera Mariano Paredes José Mariano Salas Pedro María de Anaya Manuel de la Peña Mariano Arista Juan Bautista Ceballos Manuel María Lombardini Martín Carrera Rómulo Díaz Juan Álvarez Hurtado Ignacio Comonfort Félix María Zuloaga Manuel Robles Pezuela Miguel Miramón José Ignacio Pavón Benito Juárez Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada José María Iglesias Juan N. Méndez Porfirio Díaz Manuel González Flores Francisco León de la Barra Francisco I. Madero Pedro Lascuráin Victoriano Huerta Francisco S. Carvajal Venustiano Carranza Eulalio Gutiérrez Roque González Garza Francisco Lagos Cházaro Adolfo de la Huerta Álvaro Obregón Plutarco Elías Calles Emilio Portes Gil Pascual Ortiz Rubio Abelardo Luján Rodríguez Lázaro Cárdenas Manuel Ávila Camacho Miguel Alemán Valdés Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo López Mateos Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Luis Echeverría José López Portillo Miguel de la Madrid Carlos Salinas de Gortari Ernesto Zedillo Vicente Fox Felipe Calderón Vice President of Mexico

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula
Pancho Villa
Nickname	Francisco Villa Pancho Villa El Centauro del Norte (The Centaur of the North)
Born	5 June 1878 La Coyotada, San Juan del Río, Durango, Mexico
Died	20 July 1923(1923-07-20) (aged 45) Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico
Allegiance	Mexico (antireeleccionista revolutionary forces)
Rank	General
Commands held	División del Norte
Battles/wars	Mexican Revolution First Battle of Ciudad Juarez First Battle of Agua Prieta First Battle of Nogales Battle of Columbus Battle of Guerrero Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or his nickname Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals.

As commander of the División del Norte (Division of the North), he was the veritable caudillo of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua which, given its size, mineral wealth, and proximity to the United States of America, provided him with extensive resources. Villa was also provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914. Although he was prevented from being accepted into the "panteón" of national heroes until some 20 years after his death, today his memory is honored by Mexicans, U.S. citizens, and many people around the world. In addition, numerous streets and neighborhoods in Mexico are named in his honor.

Villa and his supporters seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains, and, like the other revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for his cause. Villa's men and supporters became known as Villistas during the revolution from 1910 to roughly 1920.

Villa's dominance in northern Mexico was broken in 1915 through a series of defeats he suffered at Celaya and Agua Prieta at the hands of Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles. After Villa's famous raid on Columbus in 1916, U.S. Army General John J. Pershing tried unsuccessfully to capture Villa in a nine-month pursuit that ended when Pershing was called back as the United States entry into World War I was assured. Villa retired in 1920 and was given a large estate which he turned into a "military colony" for his former soldiers. In 1923, he decided to re-involve himself in Mexican politics and as a result was assassinated, most likely on the orders of Obregón.

Early life[link]

Hipólito Villa, son of Francisco (Pancho) Villa

Villa was born on 5 June 1878, as José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, to poor peasants Agustín Arango and Micaela Arambula at the Rancho de la Coyotada,^[1] which was located in San Juan del Rio and was one of the largest haciendas in the state of Durango. Doroteo was the oldest of five children and as such helped his mother care for his siblings after Agustín died.^[2] As a child, Doroteo received some education from a local church-run school,^[3] but quit school and became a sharecropper after his father died.^[3]

According to his own later statements, at the age of 16, Doroteo moved to Chihuahua, but swiftly returned to Durango to track down Agustín Lopez Negrete,^[3] the owner of the hacienda who had raped Doroteo's sister. ^[3] However, historians have questioned the veracity of this story.^[2] After he shot and killed Negrete,^[3] Doroteo stole a horse and fled to the Sierra Madre Occidental region in Durango, where he roamed the hills as a bandit.^[3] Eventually, he became a member of an outlaw "super group" headed by Ignacio Parra, one of the most famous bandits of Durango at the time.^[2] As a bandit he went by the name "Orango."^[4]

In 1902, Arango was arrested for stealing mules and assault. While he was spared the death sentence from the rurales due to his connections with the powerful Pablo Valenzuela (to whom Villa would sell the stolen goods), he was forced to join the federal army. Several months later he deserted and fled to the neighboring state of Chihuahua.^[2] In 1903, after killing an army officer and stealing his horse,^[4] he was no longer known as Arango, but Francisco "Pancho" Villa^[4] after his paternal grandfather, Jesus Villa.^[2] He was also known to his friends as La Cucaracha ("the cockroach").^[4]

According to Frank McLynn, until 1910 Villa would alternate episodes of banditry with more legitimate pursuits.^[2] Villa's outlook on banditry would change after he met Abraham Gonzalez.^[3] The local representative for Francisco Madero,^[3] a politician who was opposed to the rule of dictator Porfirio Díaz, González convinced Villa that through his banditry he could fight for the people and hurt the hacienda owners.^[3]

Beginnings of the Mexican Revolution[link]

Villa as he appeared in the United States press during the Revolution.

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution began, with Madero's pro-democracy, anti-reeleccionista volunteers confronting Díaz's federal troops.^[3] As the revolution spread, Villa joined with Madero's forces and aided in winning the first Battle of Ciudad Juárez in 1911.^[3] All across Mexico, Madero's volunteers won victories, driving Díaz into exile.^[3] Villa, however, strongly disapproved of Madero's decision to name Venustiano Carranza, who had previously been a staunch supporter of Diaz until Diaz refused to appoint him as Governor of Coahuila in 1909,^[5] as his Minister of War.^[5]

When one of Madero's military commanders, Pascual Orozco, started a counterrebellion against Madero, Villa gathered his mounted cavalry troops and fought alongside General Victoriano Huerta to support Madero.^[3] However, Huerta viewed Villa as an ambitious competitor,^[3] and later accused Villa of stealing a horse and insubordination; he then had Villa sentenced to execution in an attempt to dispose of him. Reportedly, Villa was standing in front of a firing squad waiting to be shot when a telegram from President Madero was received commuting his sentence to imprisonment, from which Villa later escaped after serving only a brief period in jail.^[3] During Villa's imprisonment, Gildardo Magaña Cerda, a Zapatista who was in prison at the time, provided the chance meeting which would help to improve his poor reading and writing skills, which would serve him well in the future during his service as provisional governor of the state of Chihuahua.

Fight against Huerta's usurpation[link]

In the second part of the Mexican Revolution, President Francisco I. Madero was betrayed and assassinated.^[6] After crushing the Orozco rebellion, Victoriano Huerta, with the federal army he commanded, held the majority of military power in Mexico. Huerta saw an opportunity to make himself the dictator of Mexico, and he began to conspire with men such as Bernardo Reyes, Félix Díaz (nephew of Porfirio Díaz), and the American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, which resulted in La decena trágica (the "Ten Tragic Days") and the assassination of President Madero.^[7]

After Madero's murder, Huerta proclaimed himself provisional president. Venustiano Carranza then proclaimed the Plan of Guadalupe to oust Huerta as an unconstitutional usurper. Despite his strong dislike of Carranza, Villa aligned with him afterwards to overthrow Huerta;^[3] Between Huerta and Carranza, Carranza would be regarded as only the lesser of two evils and would also be regarded as the butt of Villa's jokes and pranks.^[5] The politicians and generals (who included Pablo González, Álvaro Obregón, Emiliano Zapata and Villa) who supported Carranza's plan were collectively styled the Ejército Constitucionalista de México (Constitutionalist Army of Mexico), the constitucionalista adjective was added to stress the point that Huerta had not obtained power through methods prescribed by Mexico's Constitution of 1857.

10 centavo paper fiat money note issued by the Chihuahua state government during the anti-Huerta Constitutionalist rebellion in 1913.

Operating in conjunction with Carranza's Constitutionalist Army of Mexico,^[3] Villa operated in the northern provinces.^[3] Villa's hatred of Huerta became more personal and intense after 7 March 1913, when Huerta ordered the murder of Villa's dear friend and political mentor, Abraham González,^[3] who had worked with Madero and Villa since 1910. González had been one of Madero's political advisors. He recruited Francisco Villa in 1910 to support Madero with the Plan de San Luis which started the first part of the Mexican Revolution with the armed movement of 20 November 1910. The Plan de San Luis was conceived to force Dictator Porfirio Diaz (Mexican president for 33 years) to leave the presidency and allow for a Mexican democracy.^[6] Villa later recovered González's remains and gave his friend a proper funeral in Chihuahua.

Villa joined the rebellion against Huerta, entering the valley of the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) into Ciudad Juárez initially with a mere 8 men, 2 pounds of coffee, 2 pounds of sugar, and 500 rounds of rifle ammunition. The new United States president, Woodrow Wilson, dismissed Ambassador Wilson, and began to support Carranza's cause. Villa's remarkable generalship and recruiting appeal, combined with ingenious fundraising methods to support his rebellion, were a key factor in forcing Huerta from office a little over a year later, on 15 July 1914.

Pancho Villa (left) "commander of the División del Norte (Division of the North)," and Emiliano Zapata "Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South)". Villa is sitting in the presidential throne in the Palacio Nacional

This was the time of Villa's greatest fame and success. He recruited soldiers and able subordinates (both Mexican and mercenary)^[3] such as Felipe Ángeles, Manuel Chao, Sam Dreben and Ivor Thord-Gray, and raised money using methods such as forced assessments on hostile hacienda owners, and train robberies. In one notable escapade, he held 122 bars of silver ingot from a train robbery (and a Wells Fargo employee) hostage and forced Wells Fargo to help him sell the bars for cash.^[8] A rapid, hard-fought series of victories at Ciudad Juárez, Tierra Blanca, Chihuahua and Ojinaga followed.^[3] The well-known American journalist and fiction writer Ambrose Bierce, then in his seventies, accompanied Villa's army during this period and witnessed the battle of Tierra Blanca. Bierce vanished while still with Villa's army in or after December 1913. Oral accounts of his execution by firing squad were never verified.

Governor of Chihuahua[link]

Against the wishes of Carranza, who wanted to name Manuel Chao as the provisional governor of Chihuahua,^[9] Villa was named as the provisional governor of the state of Chihuahua in 1913,^[3] after the local military commanders in the region elected him.^[10] As Governor of Chihuahua, Villa recruited more experienced generals, such as Toribio Ortega,^[10] Porfirio Talamantes^[10] and Calixto Contreas,^[10] in his military staff and achieved more success than ever. Following his appointment as Governor of Chihuahua, Villa's secretary Perez Rul divided his army into two groups, one led by Ortega,^[11] Contreras^[11] and Orestes Pereyra^[11] and the other led by Talamantes^[12] and Contreras' deputy Severianco Ceniceros.^[12]

According to some of the references, Villa considered Tierra Blanca his most spectacular victory,^[13] though Talamantes died while fighting the battle as well.^[14] Villa's war tactics were studied by the United States Army and a contract with Hollywood was made. Hollywood would be allowed to film Villa's movements and 50% of the profit would be paid to Villa to support the Revolution.^[6]

Francisco Villa (left), Eulalio Gutiérrez (center), and Emiliano Zapata (right) at the Mexican National Palace (1914).

As governor of Chihuahua, Villa raised more money for a drive to the south by printing his own currency. He decreed his paper money to be traded and accepted at par with gold Mexican pesos, then forced the wealthy to give loans that would allow him to pay salaries to the army as well as food and clothes. He also took some of the land owned by the hacendados (owners of the haciendas) to give it to the widows and family of dead revolutionaries. The forced loans would also support the war machinery of the Mexican Revolution.^[6] He also confiscated gold from specific banks, in the case of the Banco Minero, by holding hostage a member of the bank's owning family, the extremely wealthy Terrazas clan, until the location of the bank's hidden gold was revealed.

Villa's political stature at that time was so high that banks in El Paso, Texas, accepted his paper pesos at face value. His generalship drew enough admiration from the U.S. military that he and Álvaro Obregón were invited to Fort Bliss to meet Brigadier General John J. Pershing.^[3] Returning to Mexico,^[3] Villa gathered supplies for a drive to the south.^[3]

The new pile of money was used to purchase draft animals, cavalry horses, arms, ammunition, mobile hospital facilities (railroad cars and horse ambulances staffed with Mexican and foreign volunteer doctors, known as Servicio sanitario), and food, as well as to rebuild the railroad south of Chihuahua City. As governor, he also recruited fighters from Chihuahua and Durango and became leader of a large army known as the Division del Norte (Division of the North),^[15] the most powerful and feared military unit in all of Mexico.^[16] The rebuilt railroad transported Villa's troops and artillery south,^[3] where he defeated Federal forces at Gómez Palacio,^[3] Torreón,^[3] and eventually at the heart of Huerta's regime in Zacatecas.^[17] Of all of Villa's generals, Felipe Angeles was considered to be his best one.

Carranza tries to halt the Villa advance, the fall of Zacatecas[link]

Generals Obregon, Villa and Pershing pose after meeting at Ft Bliss, TX (Immediately behind Gen Pershing is his aide, 1stLt George S. Patton, Jr.).

After Villa successfully captured Torreón,^[3] Carranza issued a puzzling order for Villa to break off action south of Torreón and instead ordered him to divert to attack Saltillo,^[3] and threatened to cut off Villa's coal supply if he did not comply.^[3] Coal was needed for railroad locomotives to pull trains transporting soldiers and supplies. This was widely seen as an attempt by Carranza to divert Villa from a direct assault on Mexico City, so as to allow Carranza's forces under Álvaro Obregón, driving in from the west via Guadalajara, to take the capital first.^[3] This was an expensive and disruptive diversion for the División del Norte, since Villa's enlisted men were paid the then enormous sum of a peso per day, and each day of delay cost thousands of pesos.

Villa, disgusted by what he saw as egoism, complied with Carranza's order to divert his attacks towards Saltillo,^[3] but then offered his resignation after capturing the city.^[3] Felipe Ángeles and the rest of Villa's staff officers argued for Villa to withdraw his resignation,^[3] defy Carranza's orders,^[3] and proceed to attack Zacatecas, a strategic mountainous city that was heavily defended by Federal troops and considered nearly impregnable.^[3] Zacatecas was the source of much of Mexico's silver,^[3] and thus a supply of funds for whoever held it. Victory in Zacatecas would mean that Huerta's chances of holding the remainder of the country would be slim. Villa accepted his staff's advice,^[3] cancelled his resignation,^[3] and the División del Norte defied Carranza^[3] and attacked Zacatecas.^[3] Attacking up steep slopes,^[3] the División del Norte defeated the Federals^[3] in the Toma de Zacatecas (Taking of Zacatecas), the single bloodiest battle of the Revolution, with the military forces counting approximately 7,000 dead and 5,000 wounded,^[3] and unknown numbers of civilian casualties. (A memorial to and museum of the Toma de Zacatecas is on the Cerro de la Bufa, one of the key defense points in the battle of Zacatecas. Tourists use a teleférico (aerial tramway) to reach it, owing to the steep approaches. From the top, tourists may appreciate the difficulties Villa's troops had trying to dislodge Federal troops from the peak.) The loss of Zacatecas in June 1914 broke the back of the Huerta regime,^[3] and Huerta left for exile on 14 July 1914.

However, in August 1914, Carranza and his army entered Mexico City ahead of Villa.^[3] Villa despised Carranza and saw him as another Porfirio Diaz-like dictator. Nevertheless, Villa, who did not want to be named President of Mexico, accepted Carranza as the Chief of the Revolution. The revolutionary caudillos convened a National Convention, and conducted a series of meetings in Aguascalientes. This National Convention set rules for Mexico's path towards democracy. None of the armed revolutionaries were allowed to be nominated for government positions. They chose an interim president, Eulalio Gutierrez. Emiliano Zapata, a military general from southern Mexico,^[3] and Pancho Villa met at the convention. Zapata was sympathetic to Villa's views of Carranza and told Villa he feared Carranza's intentions were those of a dictator and not of a democratic president. True to Zapata's prediction, Carranza decided to oppose the agreements of the National Convention, setting off a civil war.^[6] Fearing that Carranza was imposing a dictatorship, Villa and Zapata broke with him.^[3]

Battling Carranza[link]

Following the Convention, Carranza was deposed as President and fled to Veracruz.^[3] Following Carranza's departure, Villa and Zapata occupied Mexico City.^[3] Although Villa had a more formidable army, Carranza's general Álvaro Obregón was a better tactician.^[5] With Obregón's help, Carranza was able to use the Mexican press to portray Villa as a sociopathic bandit.^[5] In late 1914, one of Villa's top generals, Toribio Ortega died of typhus.^[14]

After he fled Mexico City, Carranza also maintained control over two Mexican states, Veracruz and Tamaulipas. These states, however, contained Mexico's two largest ports and Carranza was therefore collecting more revenue than Villa.^[5] In 1915, Villa was forced to abandon the capital after a number of incidents involving his troops.^[3] This helped pave the way for the return of Carranza and his followers.^[3]

To combat Villa, Carranza sent his ablest general, Álvaro Obregón, north.^[3] Meeting at the Battle of Celaya, a battle fought between April 6 and April 15, 1915, Villa was badly defeated suffering 4,000 killed and 6,000 captured.^[3] Obregón would encounter Villa again at the Battle of Trinidad, which was fought between April 29 and June 5, 1915, where Villa suffered another huge loss. In October 1915, Villa crossed into Sonora, the main stronghold of Obregón and Carranza's armies, where he hoped to crush Carranza's regime. Carranza had reinforced Sonora, however, and Villa was badly defeated. Rodolfo Fierro, his most loyal officer and cruel hatchet man, was killed while Villa's army was crossing into Sonora as well.

After losing the Battle of Agua Prieta in Sonora, an overwheming number of Villa's men in the Division del Norte were killed and 1,500 of the army's surviving members soon turned on him and accepted an amnesty offer from Carranza.^[18] In November 1915,^[19] Carranza's forces had captured and executed Contreras,^[12] Pereyra^[12] and Pereyra's son.^[12] Severianco Ceniceros also accepted amnesty from Carranza and turned on Villa as well.^[12] Although Villa's secretary Perez Rul also broke with Villa,^[20] he refused to become a supporter of Carranza.^[20]

Only 200 men in Villa's army would remain loyal to him and he was soon forced to retreat back into the mountains of Chihuahua. However, Villa and his men were determined to keep fighting Carranza's forces. Villa's position was further weakened by the United States' refusal to sell him weapons.^[3] By the end of 1915, Villa was on the run and the United States Government recognized Carranza.^[5]

Split with the United States and the Pancho Villa Expedition[link]

Villa wearing bandoliers in front of an insurgent camp

After years of public and documented support for Villa's fight, the United States, following the diplomatic policies of Woodrow Wilson, who believed that supporting Carranza was the best way to expedite establishment of a stable Mexican government, refused to allow more arms to be supplied to Villa's army, and allowed Carranza's troops to be relocated over U.S. railroads.^[3] Villa felt betrayed by the Americans.^[3] He was further enraged by Obregón's use of searchlights, powered by American electricity, to help repel a Villista night attack on the border town of Agua Prieta, Sonora, on 1 November 1915. In January 1916, a group of Villistas attacked a train on the Mexico North Western Railway, near Santa Isabel, Chihuahua, and killed several American employees of the ASARCO company. The passengers included eighteen Americans, fifteen of whom worked for American Smelting and Refining Company. There was only one survivor, who gave the details to the press. Villa admitted to ordering the attack, but denied that he had authorized the shedding of American blood.^[21]

After meeting with a Mexican mayor named Juan Muñoz,^[22] Villa recruited more men into his guerrilla militia and now had 400 men under his command.^[22] Villa then met with his Lieutenants Martin Lopez, Pablo Lopez, Francisco Beltran, Candelario Cervantes and commissioned an additional 100 men to the command of Joaquin Alvarez, Bernabe Cifuentes and Ernesto Rios;^[22] Pablo Lopez and Cervantes were later killed in the early part of 1916.^[23] Villa and his 500 guerrillas then started planning an attack on US soil.^[22]

Ruins of Columbus, New Mexico after being Raided by Pancho Villa

Attack on New Mexico[link]

On 9 March 1916, General Villa ordered nearly 100 Mexican members of his revolutionary group to make a cross-border attack against Columbus, New Mexico. While some believed the raid was conducted because of the U.S. government's official recognition of the Carranza regime and for the loss of lives in battle due to defective bullets purchased from the United States,^[24] it was accepted from a military standpoint that Villa carried out the raid because he needed more military equipment and supplies in order to continue his fight against Carranza.^[24] They attacked a detachment of the 13th Cavalry Regiment (United States), burned the town^[3] and seized 100 horses and mules and other military supplies.^[3] 18 Americans and about 80 Villistas were killed.^[25] There are other attacks in US territory that have been said to be done by Villa, however, none of these attacks were ever confirmed to be performed by Villistas. These unconfirmed attacks are: 1) On 15 May, it is claimed that they attacked Glenn Spring, Texas, killing a civilian and wounding three American soldiers; 2) on 15 June, bandits killed four soldiers at San Ygnacio, Texas; 3) on 31 July, one American soldier and a U.S. customs inspector were killed.^[26]

Pancho Villa Expedition[link]

In response to Villa's raid on Columbus, President Wilson sent 5,000 men of the U.S. Army under General John Pershing into Mexico to capture Villa. Employing aircraft and trucks for the first time in US Army history, Pershing's force chased Villa until February 1917.^[27] The search for Villa was unsuccessful.^[3] However, some of Villa's senior commanders (Colonel Candelario Cervantes, General Francisco Beltran, Beltran's son and Villa's second-in-command Julio Cardenas) and a total of 190 of his men were killed during the expedition.^[28]

The Mexican population were against US troops in Mexican territories. There were several demonstrations of their opposition to the Punitive Expedition and that counted towards the failure of that expedition. During the expedition, Carranza's forces captured one of Villa's top generals, Pablo Lopez; he was executed on June 13, 1916.^[29]

Villa's battles and military actions[link]

General Pancho Villa in the entrance of Ojinaga

• First Battle of Ciudad Juarez (1911 won)
• Second Battle of Ciudad Juarez (1913 won)
• Battle of Tierra Blanca (1913 won)
• Battle of Chihuahua (1913 won)
• Battle of Ojinaga (1913 won)^[30]
• First Battle of Torreón (1914 won)
• Battle of Gómez Palacio (1914 won)
• Battle of Saltillo (1914 won)
• Battle of Zacatecas (1914 won)
• Battle of Celaya (1915 lost)
• Battle of Trinidad (1915 lost)
• Battle of Agua Prieta (1915 lost)
• Battle of Columbus (1916 lost)
• Battle of Guerrero (1916 lost)
• Battle of Parral (1918 won)
• Third Battle of Ciudad Juarez (1919 lost)
• Siege of Durango (1919 lost)

German involvement in Villa's later campaigns[link]

Before the Villa-Carranza irregular forces had left to the mountains in 1915, there is no credible evidence that Villa co-operated with or accepted any help from the German government or agents. Villa was supplied arms from the USA, employed international (Americans included) mercenaries and doctors, was portrayed as a hero in the US media, made business arrangements with Hollywood, and did not object to the 1914 US naval occupation of Veracruz. Villa's observation was that the occupation merely hurt Huerta. Villa opposed the armed participation of the United States in Mexico, but he did not act against the Veracruz occupation in order to maintain the connections in the United States necessary to buy bullets and other supplies. The German consul in Torreón did make entreaties to Villa, offering him arms and money to occupy the port and oil fields of Tampico to enable German ships to dock there, but the offer was rejected by Villa.

German agents did attempt to interfere, unsuccessfully, in the Mexican Revolution. Germans attempted to plot with Victoriano Huerta to assist him to retake the country, and in the infamous Zimmermann Telegram to the Mexican government, proposed an alliance with the government of Venustiano Carranza.

There were documented contacts between Villa and the Germans, after Villa's split with the Constitutionalists. Principally this was in the person of Felix A. Sommerfeld (noted in Katz's book), who allegedly, in 1915, funneled $340,000 of German money to the Western Cartridge Company to purchase ammunition. However, the actions of Sommerfeld indicate he was likely acting in his own self-interest (he acted as a double agent for Carranza). Villa's actions were hardly that of a German catspaw; rather, it appears that Villa only resorted to German assistance after other sources of money and arms were cut off.^[31]

At the time of Villa's attack on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, Villa's military power had been marginalized (he was repulsed at Columbus by a small cavalry detachment, albeit after doing a lot of damage), his theater of operations was mainly limited to western Chihuahua, he was persona non grata with Mexico's ruling Carranza constitutionalists, and the subject of an embargo by the United States; so communication or further shipments of arms between the Germans and Villa would have been difficult.

A plausible explanation of any Villa-German contacts after 1915 would be that they were a futile extension of increasingly desperate German diplomatic efforts and Villista dreams of victory as progress of their respective wars bogged down. Villa effectively did not have anything useful to offer in exchange for German help at that point.

When weighing claims of Villa conspiring with Germans, one should take into account that at the time, portraying Villa as a German sympathizer served the propaganda ends of both Carranza and Wilson.

The use of Mauser rifles and carbines by Villa's forces does not necessarily indicate any German connection. These weapons were widely used by all parties in the Mexican Revolution, Mauser longarms being enormously popular. They were standard issue in the Mexican Army, which had begun adopting 7 mm Mauser system arms as early as 1895.^[32]

Personal life[link]

On May 29, 1911, Villa married María Luz Corral.^[3] a woman whom he met when he and his army rode into San Andres and asked for monetary contributions.^[33] Together, Villa and his wife had only one child, a daughter who died within a few years after birth.^[33] An alleged son of Pancho Villa, the Lieutenant Colonel Octavio Villa Coss,^[34] was reportedly killed by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, a legendary drug lord from the Gulf Cartel, in 1960.^[35] While Villa had engaged in several marriage ceremonies with many of his mistresses,^[33] Corral was his only legal wife.^[33] Corral would also take care of the children Villa fathered through his various extramarital affairs.^[33] At the time of his death, Corral and five different women each claimed to be his widow.^[4]

Last years, death and gravesite[link]

Dodge automobile in which Pancho Villa was assassinated, Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution.

Following his unsuccessful military campaign at Celaya and the American incursion, Villa's influence began to wane.^[3] While Villa still remained active, Carranza shifted his focus to dealing with the more dangerous threat posed by Zapata in the south.^[3] By the end of 1915, Villa no longer had an army and had gone back to being a guerrilla leader in the mountains of Chihuahua.^[11] Villa's last major military action would be a raid against Ciudad Juarez in 1919.^[3] Following the raid, Villa would suffer yet another major blow after Felipe Angeles, who had returned to Mexico in 1918 after living in exile for three years as a dairy farmer in Texas,^[36][37] left Villa and his now small militia. Angeles was also later captured by Carranza's forces and was executed on November 26, 1919.

After losing his final battle at Ciudad Juarez, Villa agreed that he would cease fighting if it were made worth his while.^[4] Villa still continued fighting and conducted a small siege in Ascencion, Durango after his failed raid in Juarez.^[38][39] However, the siege failed and Villa's new second-in-command, his longtime lieutenant Martín López, was killed during the fighting.^[38][39]

On May 21, 1920, a break for Villa came when Carranza, along as his top advisors and supporters,^[5] was assassinated by supporters of Álvaro Obregón.^[5] With his archnemesis dead, Villa was now ready to negotiate a peace settlement and retire. On July 22, 1920, Villa was finally able to send a telegram to Mexican intern President Adolfo de la Huerta, which stated that he recognized Huerta's presidency and requested amnesty.^[40] Six days later,^[41] Adolfo de la Huerta met with Villa successfully negotiated a peace settlement.^[3]

In exchange for his retirement, Villa was given a 25,000 acre^[42] hacienda in Canutillo,^[43] just outside of Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, by the national government.^[3] This was in addition to the Quinta Luz estate that he owned with his wife, María Luz Corral de Villa, in Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The last remaining 200 guerrillas and veterans of Villa's milita who still maintained a loyalty to him^[42] would reside with him in his new hacienda as well^[42] and the Mexican government also granted them a pension that totalled 500,000 gold pesos.^[42] The 50 guerrillas who still remained in Villa's small cavalry would also be allowed to serve as Villa's personal bodyguards.^[44]

On Friday, 20 July 1923, Villa was killed while visiting Parral.^[3] Usually accompanied by his entourage of Dorados (his bodyguards) Pancho Villa frequently made trips from his ranch to Parral for banking and other errands. This day, however, Villa had gone into the town without them, taking only a few associates with him. He went to pick up a consignment of gold from the local bank with which to pay his Canutillo ranch staff. While driving back through the city in his black 1919 Dodge roadster, Villa passed by a school and a pumpkinseed vendor ran toward Villa's car and shouted Viva Villa! –^[42] a signal for a group of seven riflemen who then appeared in the middle of the road and fired over 40 shots into the automobile.^[45] In the fusillade of shots, Villa was hit by 9 Dumdum bullets in his head and upper chest, killing him instantly.^[46] He was found in the driver seat of the car, with one hand reaching for his gun.^[45]

One of Villa's bodyguards, Ramon Contreras, was also badly wounded but managed to kill at least one of the assassins before he himself managed to escape;^[43] he would be the only person who accompanied Villa during this assassination who managed to survive.^[43] Two other bodyguards,^[43] Claro Huertado and Villa's main personal bodyguard Rafael Madreno, who were with him also died,^[4][45] as did his personal secretary Daniel Tamayo and his high ranking Colonel Miguel Trillo,^[47] who served as his chauffeur.^[4][43][45] Villa is sometimes reported to have died saying: "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."^[48] However, there is no contemporary evidence he survived his shooting even momentarily, and his biographer, Katz, confirms that Villa died instantly;^[46] Time Magazine also reported in 1951 that both Villa and his aide (Tamayo) were killed instantly.^[42] The next day, Villa's funeral was held and thousands of his grieving supporters in Parral followed his casket to his burial site^[43] while Villa's men and his closest friends remained at the hacienda in the Canitullo armed and ready for an attack by the government troops.^[43] The six surviving assassins hid out in the desert and were soon captured,^[4] but only two of them served a few months in jail, and the rest were commissioned into the military.^[49]

Shortly after his death, two theories emerged about why he was killed.^[4] One was that he was killed as an act of family revenge by Jesus Herrera,^[4] the last surviving son of Villa's former general Jose de la Luz Herrera.^[50] In 1914, Jose de la Luz Herrera and his family betrayed Villa and joined Carranza.^[51] Villa then made it a goal to exterminate the Herrera clan.^[50]

In 1915, Herrera's son Maclovio was accidentally killed by friendly fire while fighting Villa on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.^[51] Another one Herrera's sons, General Luis Herrera, was captured in a hotel by Villa's soldiers after the Battle of Torreon in 1916 and was executed.^[51] In 1919, Jose de la Luz Herrera and his two sons Zeferino and Melchor, along with a number of the men their militia, were captured by Villa's soldiers after an unsuccessful attack on Villa's base in Parral and were executed;^[51] Villa, however, surprisingly pardoned and released the remaining prisoners who were captured.^[51] After Villa retired, Jesus Herrera was determined to use his family's wealth to seek revenge on Villa.^[51] In 1922, a secret war began between Herrera and Villa and lasted over a year.^[51] According to Villa, Herrera had bribed a number of men, including some of his own former generals,^[51] to kill him and was unsuccessful.^[51]

The other theory that emerged was that Villa was killed for political reasons.^[4] At the time of his death, Villa had taken an interest in running for President of Mexico and would have presented a significant challenge to his rival potential candidate Plutarco Elias Calles.^[4]

While it has never been completely proven who was responsible for the assassination,^[52] most historians attribute Villa's death to a well planned conspiracy, most likely initiated by Plutarco Elías Calles and Joaquin Amaro with at least tacit approval of the then president of Mexico, Obregon.^[45] At the time, a state legislator from Durango, Jesus Salas Barraza, whom Villa once whipped during a quarrel over a woman,^[42] claimed sole responsibility for the plot.^[42] Barraza admitted that he told his friend Gabriel Chavez, who worked as a dealer for General Motors,^[42] that he would kill Villa if he were paid 50,000 pesos.^[42] Chavez, who wasn't wealthy and didn't have 50,000 pesos on hand,^[42] then collected money from enemies of Villa and managed to collect a total of 100,000 pesos for Barraza and his other co-conspirators.^[42] Barraza also admitted that he and his co-conspirators watched Villa's daily car-rides and paid the pumpkinseed vendor at the scene of Villa's assassination to shout "Viva Villa!" either once if Villa was sitting in the front part of the car or twice if he was sitting in the back.^[42]

Despite the fact that he did not want to have a sitting politician arrested, Obregon gave into the people's demands and had Barraza arrested. Barraza was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison,^[42] The following month,^[42] however, Barraza's sentence was commuted to three months by the Governor of Chihuahua; Barraza eventually became a colonel in the Mexican Army.^[42] In a letter to the governor of Durango, Jesus Castro, Barraza agreed to be the "fall guy" and the same arrangement is mentioned in letters exchanged between Castro and Amaro. Others involved in the conspiracy were Felix Lara, the commander of federal troops in Parral, who was paid 50,000 pesos by Calles to remove his soldiers and policemen from the town on the day of the assassination, and Meliton Lozoya, the former owner of Villa's hacienda whom Villa was demanding pay back funds he had embezzled. It was Lozoya who planned the details of the assassination and found the men who carried it out.^[45] It was reported that before Barraza died of a stroke in his Mexico City home in 1951, his last words were "I'm not a murderer. I rid humanity of a monster."^[42]

Villa's purported death mask was hidden at the Radford School in El Paso, Texas, until the 1970s, when it was sent to the Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution in Chihuahua; other museums have ceramic and bronze representations that do not match this mask.^[53]

Villa was buried in the city cemetery of Parral, Chihuahua,^[54][55] Tombs for Villa exist in Chihuahua and Mexico City.

Period newsreel showing views of the assassination location in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, news reporters at the scene, and Villa's bullet riddled corpse and auto still exist to this day. Villa's skull was stolen from his grave in 1926.^[56]

Villa's last living son, Ernesto Nava, died in Castro Valley, California, at the age of 94, on 31 December 2009.^[57] Nava appeared yearly in festival events in his hometown of Durango, Mexico, enjoying celebrity status until he became too weak to attend.

In films, video, and television[link]

Monument to Pancho Villa in Bufa Zacatecas mountain range

Equestrian bronze of Villa in Chihuahua, Chihuahua

Villa appeared as himself in films in 1912, 1913, 1914 and 1916:

• Life of Villa (1912)
• With General Pancho Villa in Mexico (1913, unconfirmed)
• The Life of General Villa (1914)
• Following the Flag in Mexico (1916)

The 1934 biopic Viva Villa! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Actors that have portrayed Villa include:

• Raoul Walsh (1912, 1914) The Life of General Villa
• Wallace Beery (1917) Patria
• George Humbert (1918) Why America Will Win
• Wallace Beery (1934) Viva Villa!, with Phillip Cooper (Pancho Villa as a boy)
• Juan F. Triana (1935) El Tesoro de Pancho Villa
• Domingo Soler (1936) ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!
• Maurice Black (1937) Under Strange Flags
• Leo Carrillo (1949) Pancho Villa Returns
• Pedro Armendáriz (1950, 1957, 1960 twice)
• Alan Reed (1952) Viva Zapata!
• Victor Alcocer (1955) El siete leguas
• Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr. (1958) Villa!!
• Rafael Campos (1959) Have Gun Will Travel, Season 3-Episode 6 (Pancho)
• José Elías Moreno (1967) El Centauro Pancho Villa
• Ricardo Palacios (1967) Los Siete de Pancho Villa
• Yul Brynner (1968) Villa Rides
• Telly Savalas (1971) Pancho Villa!
• Heraclio Zepeda (1973) Reed, México insurgente
• Antonio Aguilar (1974) La Muerte de Pancho Villa
• Héctor Elizondo (1976) Wanted: The Sundance Woman (TV)
• Freddy Fender (1977) She Came to the Valley
• José Villamor (1980) Viva México (TV)
• Jorge Reynoso (1982) Red Bells: Mexico in Flames
• Gaithor Brownne (1985) Blood Church
• Guillermo Gil (1987) Senda de Gloria (TV series)
• Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. (1989) Old Gringo
• Mike Moroff (1992) The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal, "Mexico, March 1916", The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure
• Antonio Aguilar (1993) La sangre de un valiente
• Alonso Echánove (1993) By Our Own Correspondent
• Jesús Ochoa (1995) Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda
• Carlos Roberto Majul (1999) Ah! Silenciosa
• Peter Butler (2000) From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter
• Antonio Banderas (2003) And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
• Alejandro Calva (2009) Chico Grande
• Deadliest Warrior, Spike TV's hit show, featured Pancho Villa in a match-up against Chief Crazy Horse. Villa won.
• Wild Roses, Tender Roses (2012), based on the novel The Friends of Pancho Villa, by James Carlos Blake