Heroes of the Revolution
Sadly for Mexico, what began in the Age of Reform did not continue. Instead, Mexico entered the era of Porfirio Diaz. Diaz brought stability and unity to the country, but for 30 years he also brought autocracy. The Constitution of 1857 remained intact, but without meaning, and for whatever transient economic progress occurred, the country as a whole was marked by overwhelming poverty and widespread social inequality. Inevitably, challenges to Diaz finally began to occur. In 1901, in San Luis Potosi, a new Liberal Party was formed, determined to put life back into the principles of the reform and the Constitution of 1857. Labor unrest began to spread across the country and Francisco I. Madero entered the political arena. The revolution began in 1910. Its end is a little more difficult to pinpoint. A new constitution was drafted in 1917, and Venustiano Carranza assumed the presidency, but the charismatic and idealistic peasant leader, Emiliano Zapata, pursued his own revolutionary vision until 1919, when he was ambushed and killed. Pancho Villa did not surrender to the new government until 1920.
Las Calles Fco. I Madero and Aquiles Serdán
The revolutionary careers of Francisco I. Madero and Aquiles Serdán were, for a short while, intertwined. Madero was born in Coahuilla in 1873. His family was well to do and he was educated in Europe and the United States. In 1908 he published a book calling for free elections. In Porfirio Diaz’s Mexico, the book spawned a storm of controversy. Although Diaz had entered the Mexican political arena supporting the Plan of Tuxtepec, which among other things called for no re-election, he had, in one of history's little ironies, remained, President of Mexico for more than 30 years. Before the scheduled election in 1910, in which Diaz was again elected President, Diaz had Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero's family used their influence to free him and he went into exile in Texas.
From Texas, Madero plotted to overthrow Diaz. One of his strongest supporters in this effort was Aquiles Serdán, who was from Puebla. At Madero's request, he began to smuggle guns into Mexico and he soon turned his family home into a virtual arsenal. Madero intended his insurgency effort to begin on November 20, 1910. Unfortunately, the police in Puebla discovered Serdan's activity before the scheduled insurgency could begin and they layed siege to his house. After a protracted battle, which attracted the interest of many of the residents of Puebla who were not otherwise aware of Madero's plans, Serdán, his brother and a young friend were killed. Serdán became the first martyr of the revolution and his house in Puebla is now a regional museum.
Madero went ahead with plans to oust Diaz, but he was forced to retreat to Texas. Others were similarly frustrated with Diaz's long reign and three guerilla movements began in different parts of the country. One was headed by Pancho Villa, one by Emiliano Zapata and one by Pascual Orozco. These rebel bands frustrated and harassed Diaz's army. In May 1911, Madero orchestrated a meeting with representatives of Diaz in Ciudad Juarez. Madero's demand that Diaz resign was rejected. Villa and Orozco then attacked Ciudad Juárez and destroyed the federal garrison. Madero's demand was now met with acquiescence and Diaz resigned. In June 1911, Madero entered Mexico City and in October he was elected president of Mexico.
Mexico's revolution, was not to proceed so peacefully. The following spring, Orozco staged a counter revolution. Madero, inexplicably, turned to a military ally of Diaz, Victoriano Huerta. Huerta defeated Orozco, but the unlikely alliance ended with bad feelings on both sides. Huerta then sought out support from the US Ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson. With Wilson's knowledge, in February 1913, as part of a coup planned by Huerta, a military battle broke out in the capital. Madero, unaware of Huerta's role, again turned to him to end the unrest. Ten days of terror followed, with hundreds of civilian casualties. On February 18, "to end the bloodshed," Huerta arrested Madero. On February 22, with no opposition from Wilson, while Madero and his vice president, Jose Maria Pino Suárez, were being transferred from one prison to another, Huerta had both murdered. The Madero era had ended and the protracted violence of Mexico's long revolution began in earnest.
Las Calles Flores Magón and Pancho Villa
For different reasons, Francisco (Pancho) Villa and Ricardo Flores Magón are particularly interesting choices for the honor that Ajijic has bestowed upon them. Flores Magón and his brothers published a newspaper that opposed the presidency of Porfirio Diaz. In 1901, Ricardo helped to found the Mexican Liberal Party, but not long afterwards he and his brothers were arrested and forced to leave the country. Flores Magón relocated to Los Angeles and he resumed publication of his newspaper, which took on a strong anarchist orientation. The paper was popular in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico and was credited with spawning a wave of labor unrest in Mexico just prior to 1910. Flores Magón established ties with the radical International Workingmen of the World (IWW) and in January 1911, he directed an ill conceived invasion of Baja California. His "army," made up almost entirely of members of the IWW and other socialist groups based in the US, seized the town of Tijuana. His effort aroused the animosity of many of the local citizens and was quickly put down by government forces.
Ricardo opposed Francisco Madero and when Madero returned to Mexico, he used his newspaper to attack his political views. In June 1911, Madero sought to end the dispute with the Magóns. His representatives met with Ricardo and one of his brothers in Los Angeles. The meeting was unsuccessful and the next day Madero's representatives provided sufficient information to US officials for them to arrest the Magón brothers. Although they were released the following December, because of his anarchist activities, Ricardo was in and out of jail in the United States during the entire course of the Revolution. Although Magón played little direct part, many of the ideas of the Liberal Party were incorporated into the Mexican Constitution of 1917. He died in Leavenworth Prison in 1922. After his death, Magón was recognized as a hero of the Revolution and was buried alongside Madero and other heroes in Mexico City.
In contrast to Flores Magon, Villa was a supporter of Madero. The alliance between the two men, however, was truly one of opposites in pursuit of a common cause. In contrast to the urbane Madero, Villa was a product of the frontier culture of the north. Born Doroteo Arango, in San Juan del Rio, Durango, he was jailed after a run in with a local wealthy family. He was imprisoned, escaped, and then turned to a life as a bandit, robbing, rustling cattle and killing those who got in his way. In 1910, he met Francisco Madero in a hotel in Chihuahua. The two men bonded, and Villa began to put his skills to use on Madero's behalf
Villa had learned many tricks as a bandit and those tricks translated into brilliant military tactics. After Madero's murder in 1913, Villa served under Venustiano Carranza. During this time he formed his famous División del Norte, which scored one victory after another. His success caught the attention of the press in the United States and movie producers in Hollywood. The latter came to Mexico and made a documentary film about him, which unfortunately has been lost. Eventually, Villa broke with Carranza and in 1915, in a series of battles in the Bajio, he was defeated by Carrranza's forces. His officers began to desert, and in 1916 he returned to being a guerrilla fighter and bandit in the north. After attacking the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, General John Pershing was sent into Mexico to track him down. Villa was well hidden, however, and Pershing's mission failed and only added to Villa's popular reputation.
In 1920, Villa surrendered to the new government of Adolfo de la Huerta and retired to his hacienda in Chihuahua. In 1923, he was assassinated in the Chihuahua town of Parral.
The Heroes
If the heroes recognized by Ajijic can be taken as some indication, then this is a country that values unquestioned bravery, fierce determination in the face of daunting odds, and voices raised on behalf of social and economic reform. More, this is also a country that values not only those who succeeded, but those who did not. Those honored also reflect certain romanticisms, from the bandit who fought brilliantly on his country's behalf, to the ex-Spanish soldier who fought on the side of the rebels in the War for Independence. Above all, Ajijic has honored men who tried, in the circumstances that confronted them, to help their country move toward a better future. It is easy to see how each, in his own way, is indeed a Mexican hero.
