Mexican Revolution Edition 2021 I Quién es Quién Sin Fronteras

The Mexican Revolution
(1910-1917)
November 2021
www.quienesquien.org
The Mexican Revolution Edition

The Mexican Revolution
(1910 - 1917 )
accumulated wealth
in the power of only a
few, and the extreme
poverty of the majority
of the people.
The subhuman conditions
of the farmers,
who, in addition to
lacking land for cultivation,
suffered the
mistreatment of the
foremen, prevailing
at all times the conditions
of servitude.
Who´s Who
General Director
Carlos Castillo
Director Administrativo
Juan Coronel
Editorial Director
Alejandro Araujo
Marketing Director
Trinidad Ravelo
Redaction
M. Rodríguez
Citlalli Puente
“Quién es Quién
Sin Fronteras”
T
he Mexican Revolution
was an
armed movement
initiated in 1910 to
end the dictatorship of
General Porfirio Diaz.
It officially culminated
with the promulgation
of the new Political
Constitution of the
United Mexican States
of 1917, the first in
the world to recognize
social guarantees and
collective labor rights.
At the beginning of
Porfirio Diaz’s mandate,
there were
uprisings of people
belonging to the old
liberal regime. This,
combined with a series
of political, economic,
and social
events, was the critical
point for the emergence
of the Mexican
Revolution movement.
Its origin can be defined
as the result of
the following causes.
Political Causes:
An aging regime in
the absence of integration
or formation
of new leaders and
the natural drive of
the new generations.
Social Causes:
The poor administration
of justice, the
Likewise, the working
conditions of the
factory workers, with
long working hours
ranging from 14 to
16 hours a day in exchange
for a miserable
and unfair salary.
The adoption of
French culture over
nationalist culture,
but above all, the inability
shown by General
Porfirio Diaz to understand
the needs of
social justice and political
participation.
The Mexican Revolution
Edition 1910-1917
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from “Las Fuerzas Armadas
en la Revolción Mexicana”
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The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
Quién es quién sin fronteras

CONTENTS
Francisco Villa and
the North Division......................................................................Page 5
The North Division
and the objectives of
the Revolution ..............................................................Page 9
The War Campaings:
“Orozco, Huerta
And Villa” ...........................................................Page 12
Minors in the
Mexican Revolution..........................................................Page 17
The Women´s
participations ..........................................................Page 23
Tragic Decade ...................................................Page 26
The US
Intervention ..........................................................Page 27
Consummation
of the Revolution ..........................................................Page 29
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021

Francisco Villa and
the North Division
F
rancisco Villa, a character
of great popularity in the
history of Mexico. His real
name was Doroteo Arango Arámbula,
born in La Coyotada, near
the Rio Grande ranch, Municipality
of San Juan del Rio, State
of Durango, on June 5, 1878. It
is known that he did not attend
school and was orphaned at an
early age.
In September 1894, according
to his autobiography, he wounded
Agustín López Negrete, a landowner
who wanted to take advantage
of his younger sister, so
he had to flee from the hacienda
and take refuge in the Silla and
Gamón mountains.
Having adopted the name of
Francisco Villa, he dedicated to
cattle rustling as his main activity,
but he also worked as a miner,
bricklayer, tanner, and butcher.
Shortly after, he moved to the
state of Chihuahua, where he met
Abraham González, President of
the Anti-Reelectionist Club of the
state, in 1909, who convinced him
to join the armed movement and
sent him to Sierra Azul, located
south of the state, to organize an
armed uprising against the government
of General Porfirio Díaz.
For a few weeks, he was in the
Page 6
rebel group of rebel Cástulo Herrera.
Still, his personality and
leadership qualities allowed him to
be appointed leader of the region’s
revolutionaries. He participated in
the actions of Bajío del Tecolote,
San Andrés, Camargo and Las Escobas,
in which he was defeated.
When he learned that Don Francisco
I. Madero was in the state of
Chihuahua, he immediately joined
him in the town of Bustillos, in
April 1911, where Madero granted
him the rank of Colonel. From
the first meeting, both characters
formed a good friendship. Villa
immediately subordinated himself
to Madero, believing that Madero
was fighting for the welfare of the
people.
On May 9, 1911, while the revolutionary
troops were on the
outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Villa
and Pascual Orozco noticed that
keeping the plaza under siege was
a waste of time, so they decided
to take it, with blood and fire.
Afterward, Villa and Orozco had
disagreements with Madero because
of General Juan S. Navarro,
who defended said plaza. Villa and
Orozco wanted to shoot him, but
Madero set him free. So the leader
from Durango left his troops and
retired to civilian life after receiv-
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Page 7
ing compensation for the services
rendered to the revolution.
The Northern Division
In February 1912, when the rebellion
led by Orozco took place,
Villa left Chihuahua City, gathering
approximately 500 men. He confronted
the rebels in several actions
and finally joined the Northern
Division of the Federal Army,
commanded by General Victoriano
Huerta. A unit with which he actively
participated in Tlahualilo,
Conejos, Escalon, and Rellano, in
which Pascual Orozco was defeated,
for which the Secretary of War
and Navy granted Villa the rank of
Honorary Brigadier General.
When taking a town, Villa first
informed himself of the situation.
Then he demanded food and money
from the authorities and merchants
to pay his troops, leaving
them vouchers so that when the
cause triumphed, they would be
paid. Finally, he would order to
open the merchant’s stores so that
the people could take what they
needed. This is why they were
seen as liberators and had followers
loyal to the cause.
On August 26, 1913, Francisco
Villa, with a little more than 1,000
men, took San Andres, Chih., defended
by the Orozquistas, commanded
by Felix Terrazas; the
Battle lasted several hours, and finally,
the defenders had to vacate
the square. The villistas seized
seven trains, two cannons, 421 rifles,
and about 20,000 cartridges.
Against all expectations, Villa
went to Camargo, Chihuahua,
where he was joined by the revolutionaries
Maclovio Herrera with
his Benito Juarez Brigade and Trinidad
Rodriguez. They had accepted
the “Centaur of the North” as
Chief.
Villa’s first action as Chief of the
Northern Division was attacking
Lerdo, Gómez Palacio, and Torreón,
which were defended by
about 5,000 men, commanded by
General Eutiquio Munguía. Of the
total federal troops, more than
half were Orizquistas led by Benjamín
Argumedo. Villa ordered
the “Benito Juarez” and “Madero”
brigades, supported by a fraction
of the “Juarez de Durango,”
which had the “Volunteers of the
Lagoon” as a reserve, to advance
along the north bank of the Nazas
River.
When Francisco Villa took command
of the Northern Division,
his main concern was to organize
a great unit, the “undisciplined
rabble,” into a well-organized
body. Above all, he wanted to
sow in his people that the cause
for which they were fighting was
the Revolution, that the fight was
against all those who exploited
the poor and humiliated, against
those who persecuted and dishonored
them. The objective of
their struggle was to overthrow
the dictatorship that was becoming
unbearable due to the lack of
justice and liberties.
The Northern Division was
a great unit that came out of
nowhere, that broke all the
schemes of the armies of the
Revolution since it was joined by
all kinds of people from diverse
origins. From bandits, peasants,
ranchers, miners to members of
the middle class and professional
military.
A great number of the members
of the Northern Division joined
this unit because Villa was an authentic
leader who was followed
unconditionally by a significant
number of regional chiefs who
obeyed his orders almost blindly
because of his fight against the
rich and his generosity with the
poor.
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
Quién es quién sin fronteras

The Northern Division and
the objectives of the revolution
O
n November 2, 1913, in
Estación Consuelo, Chihuahua
Villa asked General
Mercado to surrender the
plaza of Chihuahua or leave it
to fight in the open field, which
was rejected. The villistas took
positions for the battle while the
defenders prepared to defend
themselves, taking advantage of
the terrain conditions.
After the setback in Chihuahua,
Villa decided to take Ciudad
Juarez. For effect, the villistas
captured a coal train and
forced the telegraphists to send
messages to the station chief of
Ciudad Juarez that they had returned
to the border city.
The next objective of the
Northern Division was the Chihuahua
Plaza, but they had to
take it before reinforcements
arrived from Torreon, while internal
problems grew stronger.
Knowing that the federal forces,
mainly orozquistas or colorados,
were heading to Ciudad
Juarez to confront the Northern
Division, Villa decided to confront
them in an open zone.
The Tierra Blanca station, 31
kilometers south of the old Paso
del Norte. The Battle of Tierra
Blanca began on November 24,
obtaining a victory of great importance
for the Revolution.
Villa’s next objective was to
take Ojinaga and wipe out the
federal troops in the state of
Chihuahua. Hundreds of soldiers
crossed the Bravo River and
took refuge in the United States.
Many others deserted and
joined Villa, who remained lost,
without artillery, almost without
a park, and were defeated before
starting the battle, fighting
only for pride.
It is worth mentioning that
while a part of the Northern Division
made an effort to control
the state of Chihuahua, another
part stayed in Torreon and
northern Durango, having several
confrontations in Saltillo,
General Cepeda, Parras and Viesca,
Coah. In this situation, a
new Brigade was integrated, the
Carranza, with people from the
Carranza Regiment of the First
Brigade of Durango, which from
its creation was considered part
of the Northern Division.
In March 1914, the Northern
Division went to La Laguna
to recover the towns of Torreón,
Gómez Palacio, and Lerdo,
which were defended by the
Nazas Division of the Federal
Army. After controlling the lagoon
region, Villa had several
Página Page 10
problems with Venustiano Carranza.
He tried to solve it in the
best way and even marched to
take the plaza of Saltillo, Coahuila,
knowing that this was
part of the territory that corresponded
to the Northeastern
Army Corps.
Villa resigned as commander
of the Northern Division. Still,
his brigade chiefs did not accept
the resignation, and all of them
unsubordinated against Carranza’s
order saying that Villa was
the only commander they recognized.
Finally, “The Centaur of
the North” continued to lead the
Division and went to Zacatecas,
not to support Nátera, but to
take the town, to show Carranza
the strength of his troops.
The taking of Zacatecas was
the bloodiest of the battles of
the Revolution and the most
significant and most brilliant
action of the Northern Division,
in which the artillery directed by
General Felipe Ángeles stands
out; this battle was planned
with the basic principles of military
art.The city of Zacatecas
had strategic importance for
both the Constitutionalist Army
and the Federal Army since it
was a railroad crossing, which
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Page 11
was the obligatory passage from
the North of the country to Mexico
City. This victory is considered
a masterpiece of military
science. The villistas captured
6,000 prisoners, 12 cannons,
300 machine guns, and 12 rifles.
With this victory, the Constitutionalists
had a free road to
Mexico City, and it was the decisive
blow for the fall of General
Victoriano Huerta’s government.
However, in the Bajío, the
results in combat were not as
expected, and the Northern Division
ceased to exist in 1915;
Villa, with a small group of his
loyal troops, took refuge in the
state of Chihuahua, returning to
guerrilla life.
One of the objectives of the
thousands of men who made
the Mexican Revolution possible
was to change society, to make
it fairer so future generations
would have a more dignified life
than they or their ancestors.
Francisco Villa was one of those
thousands of Mexicans who
joined the revolutionary maelstrom
and, with his contribution,
influenced changes in all areas
of Mexican society.We can assure
that since Villa joined the
revolution in November 1910,
until his entrance to Mexico City
in December 1915, he did not
issue any document in favor of
the farmers or workers. However,
after he joined the Zapatistas,
he was influenced by the
farmers of the south. In May
1915, he issued the General
Agrarian Law to fulfill the revolutionary
promises and as a basis
for the country’s pacification.
Although General Villa was
defeated in the battles of Celaya
and La Trinidad in April-May
1915, and his agricultural project
could not be carried out, its
foundations were embodied in
the Constitution of 1917. Despite
the Magna Carta being
drafted by the constitutionalists,
the victors of the Northern
Division fulfilled part of the objectives
sought by all Mexicans
who decided to fight in the Mexican
Revolution.
The Magna Carta of 1917 was
the pinnacle in which the regenerative
movement reflected its
ideals of equality and social justice
that still govern the lives of
all Mexicans. Foundations that
since its promulgation has been
a guide to issue the rules that
currently govern the Mexican
state to achieve the welfare of
the Mexican people.
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
T
The War Campaigns:
Huerta, Orozco and Villa
he History of the Northwest
Army Corps is part of the
golden pages of the History
of the Mexican Army and the History
of Mexico. Its actions were of
utmost relevance in the Mexican
Revolution of 1910: The defeats of
General Pascual Orozco and General
Francisco Villa.
The background of the Northwest
Army begins at the beginning
of 1912 when some groups that
at first had supported the Plan of
San Luis, proclaimed by Francisco
I. Madero pronounced themselves
against it. Specifically, it has its
origin with Orozco’s ignorance
against Madero’s regime.
Quién es quién sin fronteras
The campaign against
General Orozco
Pascual Orozco was a native of
Chihuahua, rancher, muleteer, and
merchant. He was the first leader
of the armed movement and is
credited with the victory over the
federal troops guarding the plaza
of Ciudad Juarez, with which General
Porfirio Diaz resigned from
the presidency.
However, due to misunderstandings
between General Orozco and
Madero, mainly because the latter
did not attend to the demands of
social justice and left the structure
of the federal army intact, Orozco
disowned him as president on
March 3, 1912.

Page 13
The first confrontations between
Orozco’s supporters and federal
forces, commanded by General
José González Salas, took place in
Chihuahua, on March 23, 1912, in
Rellano. The former achieved victory
and two days later expressed
their demands in a manifesto
known as the “Plan de la Empacadora.”
At the end of May, a second confrontation
took place in the Rellano
square. This time the federal
army, commanded by General Victoriano
Huerta, managed to defeat
the insurgents and little by little
managed to decimate their forces
until gaining control of Chihuahua
and Ciudad Juarez on August 16
of that year. After being wounded
in a confrontation in the city of
Ojinaga, Orozco took refuge in the
neighboring country to the north,
where he rethought his strategy.
Upon his return in December1912,
Orozco’s priority was
to gain supporters. He began an
arduous campaign to recruit rural
workers, and former Maderista
combatants discharged after the
revolutionary triumph, members
of the federal army, and anyone
who decided to support him.
On September 19, at Rancho de
San Joaquín, the Maderista forces
prevailed again against the
Oozquistas despite their numerical
inferiority. Obregón was promoted
to the rank of colonel for demonstrating
his skills in the science of
war. The victories of the Maderista
groups helped immensely in the
defeat of Pascual Orozco.
The campaign against
Victoriano Huerta
In 1913, Venustiano Carranza
had disowned the government of
General Victoriano Huerta and had
initiated the organization of the
Constitutionalist Army, of which he
was the First Chief and whose purpose
was to defend the principles
of the Magna Carta.
A decree was issued in the city
of Monclova, Coahuila, which stipulated
the organization of the
Constitutionalist Army in seven
Army Corps: corresponding to
the Northwest, Northeast, East,
West, Center, South, and Southeast.
However, only three fractions
of this army went into effect, the
Army Corps of the Northwest and
Northeast and the Northern Division,
under the command of Francisco
Villa.
Throughout 1914, the Northwest
Army fought three essential
battles in its march towards the
south. Of which, the following
stand out; the capture of Tepic,
Nayarit, the Battle of La Venta-Orendain,
and the capture of
Colima.
With these victories, the revolutionary
army managed to control
the northwest and west of the
country. This let General Obregón
advance towards Mexico City, and
thanks to the victory of the Northern
Division in Zacatecas, the passage
was unstoppable.
Thus, on July 15, 1914, Victoriano
Huerta left the country’s presidency
in the hands of Carvajal
to hand it over to the triumphant
Revolution, with the signing of the
Treaties of Teoloyucan, on August
13, 1914.
Alvaro Obregón’s troops entered
the country’s capital on August
15 and, on the 20th of the same
month, Venustiano Carranza entered
Mexico City, thus becoming
Provisional President of Mexico.
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Page 15
Page 16
The campaign against
General Francisco Villa
After disarming the Constitutionalist
troops, Carranza appointed
his cabinet. However, a
long-standing rivalry, added to recent
events, provoked the rupture
between the First Chief and the
General in Chief of the Northern
Division, Francisco Villa, who until
then had fought on the Constitutionalist
side.
Because of the disagreements
between the Carrancistas and Villistas
and the still revolted Zapatistas,
a Convention was called to
meet first in Mexico City, on October
1st, and later in Aguascalientes,
to resolve the situation.
Due to the irreconcilable positions
of both Carranza and General
Villa, the Aguascalientes Convention
agreed to remove both from
their posts and appoint General
Eulalio Gutiérrez as Provisional
President who in turn was forced
to appoint General Villa as Chief of
the Conventionist Army.
Faced with this ruse, Carranza
refused to accept the decision
of the Convention, giving rise to
what some authors call the third
stage of the Revolution or the
“Factional Struggle” between Carranza
and Villa, joined by the Liberation
Army of the South, led by
Emiliano Zapata.
On December 3, 1914, General
Villa entered Mexico City at the
head of the conventionist troops.
Evidently, Carranza did not accept
this imposition, and the country
was trapped in the middle of two
governments and again plunged
into war. On the 14th, both sides
fought fiercely. However, Villa’s
troops began to retreat, and his
strategy was maintained with few
variations. On the 15th, given the
successful advance, the Army of
Operations changed from a defensive
tactic to an offensive one, and
it was a double cavalry envelopment
that consummated the victory.
Due to the decimation of his
troops, General Francisco Villa understood
that he could not continue
fighting as a formal army and
decided to disintegrate the Northern
Division and keep on fighting
with a guerrilla-type strategy.
In this way, in a short time, the
Army of Operations managed to
pacify the north of the country
and continued with the task of dismembering
the resistance that still
supported General Villa.
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Page 17
Minors: Social Actors in
the Mexican Revolution
T
he Mexican Revolution was
the first significant social
movement of the 20th century.
It meant a violent change
in the country’s political, economic,
and social institutions, in
which men, women, and minors
(boys and girls) took part.
To create and organize an
army that would reestablish the
constitutional order in the national
territory, the most important
thing required, “the soldier.”
It was recruited from the civilian
population affected, both by
the revolutionary side and the
federal government, since both
contenders extracted the farmers
from the villages and turned
them into soldiers.
Sometimes these were followed
by their wives and children.
This common practice is
how minors were involved in
war activities, and many others
were born in a camp or a
military barracks. During the
development of the Revolution,
they reached the age or
size that would allow them to
wield a weapon and fight in the
same unit where their father
was (who saw for the safety of
his offspring), thus entering the
revolutionary or federal ranks.
Page 18
In contrast with this, many
other minors chose to join the
Revolutionary movement in
search of adventure voluntarily.
therefore, whatever their way
of entering the Revolution, they
had a daily attitude towards the
belligerent activities in common,
since these also corresponded
to the social reality faced in the
country.
Being a minor in Mexico at the
beginning of the 20th century
did not mean being alienated
from the responsibilities of the
daily life of adults, so biological
age was not taken into account
in the face of necessity and customs.
For example, a 12-year-old
boy was seen with the capacity
to take responsibilities and participate
in his society, the same
as a girl of the same age, who
could get married, assuming the
implications of the social role of
a wife.
Based on the laws in force at
the time, the beliefs and customs
of the people of Mexico,
minors were subject to the reality
facing the country in the revolutionary
era.
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Page 20
in Guadalajara, state of Jalisco.
She joined the revolutionary
movement on February 11,
1916, as a nurse at 16.
She fought under the orders of
the Zapatista General Martiniano
Oznaya, who fought against the
Huertista forces. Her services
consisted of caring for the sick
and wounded and carrying out
commissions to acquire medicines
and supplies necessary for
the service of the Zapatista forces.
On October 22, 1919, she
separated from the army after
being granted an absolute leave
of absence.
Cases of
female minors
The primary role of female minors
was to assist in the tasks
of daily life, except for those
who excelled as nurses, propagandists,
and messengers, examples
of these cases are the
following:
Magdalena Cueva y Cueva,
originally from Santa Marta, Jal.
born May 25, 1896, entered the
Revolution in March 1913, at
the age of 17, as a propagandist
for the Revolutionary Junta.
His last commission was to
take some official letters from
the Junta to General Manuel M.
Diéguez, urging him to advance
to the Plaza de Guadalajara. On
June 19, 1914, he finished his
accredited participation with the
satisfactory fulfillment of the
commission mentioned above.
María Jesús Castro Patrón,
was born on January 18, 1900,
Esther Calvo de Campos, born
November 2, 1900, in Torreón,
Coahuila, joined the Revolution
in March 1914 at the age of 14
in the General Headquarters of
the Lucio Blanco column, serving
as an auxiliary nurse. She
separated from the army on August
25, 1914, to continue her
studies as a stenographer.
Cases of
male minors
Juan Delgado Herrera, born
July 2, 1899, in Ixcateopan,
state of Guerrero, entered the
revolutionary movement on
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Page 21
February 16, 1911, as a private
soldier, in the revolutionary forces
of the Liberating Army of the
South commanded by Emiliano
Zapata participating in 12 battles.
Ambrosio Castro Cerda, born
December 8, 1899, in Rancho
de San Bernardo, Guanajuato
State, joined the revolutionary
movement on January 5, 1914.
At the age of 15, he entered as
a Cavalry Lieutenant in the revolutionary
forces of the Division
commanded by General Jesus
Carranza.
to affect national security and
maintain territorial control.
One of the measures applied
by Carranza was the suppression
of the Army Corps. For this
purpose, he relied on Article 129
of the Political Constitution of
1917.
This reorganization caused a
significant number of chiefs and
officers to be surplus; another
decision to solve the surplus
was to decree the discharge of
minors, which reached very high
numbers.
Felipe Beltrán Cruz, a native
of Tehuacán, Pue. was born on
April 23, 1898, joined the Revolution
on July 3, 1916, at the
age of 18 in the Constitutionalist
forces in the Zaragoza Regiment
of General Ernesto Santos Coy,
with the rank of Cavalry Soldier
and was promoted by merit
in the campaign to 1st Cavalry
Sergeant.
Minors after the
constitutionalist triumph
With the consolidation of the
Constitutionalist triumph, Venustiano
Carranza carried out
actions to reduce the army not
The Mexican State tried to mitigate
some of the most painful
effects of the Revolution on children:
parental abandonment or
death. Laws were established to
improve minors’ situation and
restore the social and family
welfare of the population. If education
and child care had been
secondary during the war, these
aspects became the priorities of
the new State once it was over.
One of the immediate consequences
of the Mexican Revolution
was the promulgation of the
Political Constitution of 1917.
Among its fundamental articles,
123 stood out because one of
its clauses established that the
minimum age for admission to
work was 12 years of age. It
also established that children
under 16 could not work more
than six hours in unhealthy
or dangerous conditions or at
night.
Social elements such as compulsory
schooling and a new
mentality regarding the child’s
place in society contributed to
the gradual negative social connotation
of child labor, which led
to a decrease in the work of minors.
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
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Women’s participation...
T
o better understand the
presence of women in the
revolutionary process, it is
necessary to start from the fact
that it was not a fortuitous event.
The history of women in Mexico
has countless examples of those
who supported various social and
armed movements out of necessity
or conviction. During the Mexican
Revolution, the peculiarity
of Mexican women, regardless of
their origin, led thousands of them
to join this struggle from different
fronts.
Page 24
fought for rights and opportunities
that many men still could not
conceive. There were two types of
incorporation to the revolutionary
movement. One of them was support
from outside the ranks, from
women who distributed propaganda,
distributed information and
obtained supplies for the cause.
The other was by taking up arms
together with the men; among the
women, we can highlight are Ramona
R. Flores “La Tigresa,” Clara
de la Rocha11 and Carmen Vélez
“La Generala.”
Adela Velarde Pérez joined the revolution in “la División del
Norte del Ejército Constitucionalista”, then joined “el Cuerpo del
Ejército del Noreste”
Women who had supported anti-reelection
and others who had
not yet been politically active condemned
the actions of President
Diaz and showed their support for
Madero. Among these women was
Isabel Vargas Urquidi, who sheltered
the persecuted Maderistas
in her house. As well as Dolores
Romero de Revilla, who had begun
her political activity in 1909 and
after the outbreak of the revolution,
participated in various battles.
Many of the anti-reelection and
maderista women were middle
class, high, and usually educated.
Hence, they began to conform
to a feminist ideology that bothered
some of Madero’s sympathizers
since these educated women
Quién es quién sin fronteras
Another form of action was to
provide information, an extremely
risky task that required women
versed in the subject, as they
had to disguise themselves as
merchants and enter towns in enemy
hands. For this reason, this
was not constant practice, and it
occurred particularly within the
Zapatista army.
In addition to taking up arms,
women acted in a manner equivalent
to the health service, helping
the wounded in periods of confrontation.
It is necessary to emphasize
that all these activities in
which women participated were
not a single task since most of the
women revolutionaries simultaneously
performed the services of
feeding, nursing, surveillance, etc.

Page 25 Page 26
The Tragic Decade
The Adelitas
The popular inventiveness inside
and outside the troops led
to different nicknames and labels
for the women who accompanied
the armies. This was
done according to their situation
within the ranks.
There was also the “galletas,”
who had been widowed several
times due to war conditions and
had more than one or two partners.
Other nicknames for female
revolutionaries were “chimiscoleras”,
“soldadas”, “juanas”,
“cucarachas”, “argüenderas”,
“mitoteras”, “busconas” and
“hurgamanderas”.
There was the so-called “jefas,”
“vivanderas,” or “comideras.”
These were a group of older
women who had already passed
their concubine stage and were They are equally labeled, without
dedicated to caring for soldiers
distinction of sides, as “adel-
who did not have a partner, itas.” This denomination became
among whom would usually be famous thanks to the song of
their children who already belonged
the same name that the División
to an army due to their del Norte spread between 1914
age.
Mictlantecuhtli, and 1915. Dios Mexica de la Muerte
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
K
nown as the Tragic Decade,
a military coup against Francisco
I. Madero began on
February 9, 1913, in Mexico City
when he was president. It lasted
ten days and managed to overthrow
and assassinate Madero and
freed the dissident generals, Bernardo
Reyes and Félix Díaz, who
were imprisoned.
The leaders of the Decena Trágica
were Manuel Mondragón and
Victoriano Huerta, who betrayed
Madero by signing the embassy
pact with the opponents. Among
the causes that gave rise to this
movement were: Madero’s failure
after trying to execute the governmental
reforms desired by the
revolutionary groups, his relations
Quién es quién sin fronteras
with political entities that supported
former President Diaz to
restore and improve the economy
and investments abroad.
The non-conformity and injustices
towards the Mexican working
class, the revolutionary ideas of
the society of that time, where the
repeated strikes sowed a feeling of
change, and the trade policies that
prevented the entrance of foreign
capital and led many companies to
close their doors, were influential.
Consequently, Victoriano Huerta
took over as President of Mexico,
leading to the failure to apply
democratic policies to the Republic,
not to mention the assassination
of Madero and Pino Suarez.

The northamerican intervention:
the fear and the need to impose
T
he Mexican Revolution threatened
to spread to North
American areas where Aztec
people lived. On April 21, 1914,
the U.S. Navy occupied Veracruz,
killing 126 Mexicans in the process.
The next day, April 22, private
guards of mining companies
massacred strikers in Ludlow, Colorado.
The U.S. intervention in the Mexican
Revolution was due to several
factors. For the Americans,
the United States was responsible
for extending its authority over
“semi-barbaric peoples” such as
the Mexicans.
It was a matter of safeguarding
U.S. investments in Mexico and
at the same time extending and
deepening its influence and domination
over that country.
But at the same time, there was
an underlying perception that the
Mexican Revolution implied a profound
potential danger to the United
States.
Villa’s Invasion of
the United States
On the one hand, there were
obvious aspects. Pancho Villa
attacked the border town of Columbus
in March 1916. Despite
the punitive expedition and the
increase of troops on the border,
Villa later repeated his penetration
into U.S. territory to the
point of going nearly 500 kilometers
into the United States.
But even more important
were the Mexican immigrants
in Texas, since between 1910
and 1912, between sixty and
one hundred thousand Mexican
workers crossed the border annually
to work. These workers,
coming from the areas affected
by the revolutionary movement,
brought their experience and
demands.
In the United States, there was
a prominent Mexican community
whose actions could have
profound effects under the influence
of the revolutionary movement.
Page 28
From the point of view of
American employers, the Mexican
Revolution was no longer an
event in a neighboring country
but a potential source of sedition
that could affect their interests
and the system’s stability.
Mexican workers in the United
States at the time were a militant
and radicalized community
with an admirable tradition of
militant activity with strong ties
to the Mexican Revolution. In
Texas, Mexican socialists organized
their own people.
Mexican farmers and laborers
organized in the Tenant Farmers
Union of America and the Land
League of America throughout
the Southwest and attempted
to organize a general strike. In
1915, the Mexican community
in South Texas began an armed
separatist insurrection, which
proposed the reunification of the
Southwest with Mexico or the
establishment of a sovereign
Mexican state.
U.S. involvement was varied
and seemingly contradictory,
first supportive and then repudiating
the Mexican regimes.
For both economic and political
reasons, the U.S. government
generally supported those who
occupied the seats of power,
whether they legitimately held
that power or not.
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
Quién es quién sin fronteras

Consummation
of the Revolution
B
y the end of 1916, Carranza’s
position had been consolidated
in almost all the
states of Mexico, except for Chihuahua
and Morelos.
The time had come to legitimize
the Revolution, approve
a new Constitution, and be
elected president. Therefore,
in November 1916, he invited
the new Mexican political
class, mostly reformers from
the middle class, to a constitutional
convention in Santiago de
Querétaro, Mexico.
Thus, the promulgation of the
1917 Constitution was confirmed,
which included articles
on church-state separation,
national sovereignty over the
subsoil, property rights of community
groups over the lands of
The Mexican Revolution Edition, November 2021
their communities, the right of
workers to organize, and go on
strike, and many other aspirations.
Quién es quién sin fronteras
Like most constitutions, it was
a statement of what the delegates
wanted for Mexicans,
not what could be carried out
immediately. For Obregón, the
reforms were going too slowly
under Carranza; he rose in rebellion,
and shortly after that,
the president was assassinated.
Obregón himself was elected
president in 1920, carried out
an agrarian reform in Morelos
and Yucatán, and worked to improve
Mexico’s financial situation.
He was re-elected in 1928,
only to be assassinated by a
supporter of the pro-Catholic
opposition shortly before retaking
office.

Francisco I. Madero