Villa
Born as the oldest of five children on 6/5/1878 into a sharecropping family on Rancho de la Coyotada, one of the largest haciendas in the state of Durango, Villa receives a rudimentary education from the local church-run school, that ends when his father dies and he quits to help his mother and family ... working as sharecropper himself, bricklayer, butcher, muleskinner, railroad worker ... and a sometime bandit. His first murder is said to be the killing of a hacienda owner named Agustin Lopez Negrete, a revenge killing for the man raping Villa's sister. Outlawing out of the Sierra Madre Occidental region of Durango, he is captured in 1902, but instead of being executed, he is forcibly inducted into the Federal Army ... it does not take, and by 1903, he is going by the name of Pancho Villa, the nickname of La Cucaracha (The Cockroach), has killed an army officer and stolen the man's horse, and is again practicing mountain banditry. Career path seemingly chosen, his life changes in 1910 when he is convinced by Abraham Gonzalez (educated at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana) that better days can be his if he and his outlaws, join the Mexican Revolution by marrying their activities into supporting wealthy hacienda owner turned politician, Francisco Madero, in his opposition to incumbent Mexican President, Porfirio Diaz. Villa is thirty-two years old when his revolutionary activities begin.
Gonzalez
Madero
Diaz
Blood and betrayal, in the years that follow, Villa begins by capturing a Diaz supporting hacienda, captures a train of Federales, takes the town of San Andres, beats the Federal Army at Naica, Camargo, Pilar de Conchos, loses at Tecolote, is made a colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and disobeying orders, with the support of fellow revolutionary Pascual Orozco, captures the border town of Ciudad Juarez. Diaz forced into exile, instead of retiring, in the insane machinations of the Mexican Revolution, when Orozco is unsatisfied with the spoils of victory and revolts against Madero, Villa is recruited to attack his former comrade, joining forces with the Federal Army of General Victoriano Huerta. Orozco forced into exile in the United States, Huerta makes Villa an honorary brigadier general in the Federal Army, but then realizing he can't use Villa in his future plans for Mexico, arrests the bandit leader on hoses stealing charges and sentences him to death by firing squad ... an execution that almost happens, Villa takes his "last words" opportunity and talks and talks until he is pardoned by President Madero at the last minute, but not let loose.
Orozco
Huerta
Villa Talking To His Firing Squad
Imprisoned, Villa escapes on Christmas Day of 1912, and crosses into the United States at the beginning of 1913. In Texas when Madero is forced to resign and then murdered by his enemy (his friend, Gonzalez, will also be murdered this period), Huerta, in yet another coup, with just seven men, some mules, and a handful of supplies, Villa crosses back into Mexico in April of 1913 ... and the Mexican Revolution continues. Robbing and recruiting (there is a train robbery of 122 bars of Wells Fargo silver), joining forces with Venustiano Carranza, while Huerta also fights against the forces of Emiliano Zapata, Villa and his forces win victories at Ciudad Juarez, Tierra Blanca, Chihuahua, and Ojinaga. Made revolutionary governor of Chihuahua, Villa prints his own currency, takes gold from the regions banks, signs a Hollywood contract to have is exploits filmed (the first feature movie of legendary Hollywood director, Raoul Walsh), meets American General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and creates the most powerful military unit in all of Mexico, the Division of the North, which wins victories over the Federal Army at Gomez Palacio, Torreon, and then, defying orders from Carranza, the battle that forces Huerta to flee the country, Zacatecas, in June of 1914.
Villa (Center) And Troops
Villa In Action
And then, in control in Mexico City, another falling out of the revolutionary leaders takes place, this time with Villa and Zapata opposing Carranza and General Alvaro Obregon (who retreat to Vera Cruz) ... better tactics used, more revenue raised, portrayed as a bandit sociopath in the press, defeats, and the Division's men accepting amnesty, by 1915, Villa goes from national leader to a guerrilla hiding in the mountains with only two hundred men (Zapata is murdered in 1919) ... where he plans to raise money and men, by crossing the border and attacking the town of Columbus, New Mexico. Border breached, Villa spends the period between 1916 and 1920 avoiding the expeditionary force of General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and those of Carranza, while continuing to rob and raid for money and resources. More betrayal, on 5/21/1920, Obregon has Carranza and his top advisers and supporters murdered, and seizes power, opening the door for Villa to negotiate a peace settlement with the government (interim President Adolfo de la Huerta before Obregon is elected President of Mexico on 12/1/1920) in which for ending hostilities, the former guerrilla is granted a 25,000 acre hacienda in Canutillo, near Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua where he can live with his 200 remaining men (50 are allowed to become his bodyguards), while enjoying a pension of 500,000 gold pesos. Living the life of a wealthy landowner, with friends and family nearby, it appears Villa will end his story peacefully, but such is not to be the case.
Villa (L) & Zapata (R)
Murdered Zapata
Carranza
General Obregon
Many enemies still upright, making rumbles about getting involved in the 1924 elections, surrounded by loyalists, guard down after several years of living peacefully in the region, on the Friday morning of 7/20/1923, taking only Colonel Miguel Trillo (who serves as chauffeur), Claro Huertado (bodyguard), Rafael Madreno (main personal bodyguard), Danie Tamayo (Villa's personal secretary), and Ramon Contreas (bodyguard) along, Villa journeys into Parral in a black 1919 Dodge touring car.to pick up a consignment of gold from the bank to pay his Canutillo ranch staff. Funds received, the party is headed back through town when they pass a local school and a pumpkin seed vendor runs at the car and shouts "Viva Villa" ... the signal to nearby killers that Villa is in the front seat of the car (two "Viva" shouts would designate he is in the backseat). Message received (the telegraph service to the ranch is conveniently cut at the same time), from out of concealment seven assassins step into the road and open up on the occupants of the touring car. Overkill, over forty bullets are fired into the car, including nine dumdum rounds that hit Villa in the head and chest, killing him instantly ... he is forty-five years old. Only Ramon Contreras survives the fusillade, and though severely wounded, will manage to kill one of the assassins as the other killers flee the area. Buried the next day, Villa is carried to his grave by two black horses and a military honor guard while a band plays in a ceremony that is attended by thousands.
Museum Piece - The Repaired Car
Murder
Villa
A state legislator from Durango at the time, the only man to be found guilty in the killing is Jesus Salas Barraza, who confesses to the crime, and is sentenced to twenty years behind bars ... a sentence which is commuted by the governor of Chihuahua after the admitted killer serves only three months in prison (after his release, Barraza will be made a colonel in the Mexican Army (supposed payback for whipping Barraza in a quarrel over a woman ... upon his death in 1951, his last words are "I'm not a murderer. I rid humanity of a monster!"). Barraza never mentions who the other killers were and they are still unknown, with various theories being that Villa is killed by the last male member of the Herrera Family he has been engaging with in a deadly blood feud, by Meliton Lozoya, the former owner of Villa's ranch (to stop Villa from demanding payback over embezzled funds), and by the forces of Obregon and his pick for next president of Mexico, General Plutarco Elias Calles (Mexico's 40th President), to keep Villa from interfering in their election plans (conveniently, the federal troops of Felix Lara that guard Parral just happen to be out of town on the day of Villa's death). What is known is that Villa is reburied in the Monument to the Mexican Revolution in Mexico City in 1976 ... missing his skull, which vanishes from his grave in 1926 (stolen and said to be sold to an eccentric millionaire who collected skulls of the famous), and that the man lives on in an assortment of books, magazines articles, and movies, and inherited memories ... La Cucaracha indeed!
Barraza
Calles
Death Mask And Pistol
Final Resting Place
Villa
No comments:
Post a Comment