“Pancho” Villa Through Popular Culture and Collective Memory, 1910-2015

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Imagining Villa: An Examination of Francisco “Pancho” Villa through Popular Culture and Collective Memory, 1910-2015

Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation

Authors Macias, Marco A.

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/628477 IMAGINING VILLA: AN EXAMINATION OF FRANCISCO “PANCHO” VILLA THROUGH POPULAR CULTURE AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY, 1910-2015.

Marco Antonio Macias

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

2018

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Marco A. Macias, titled “Imagining Villa: an examination of Francisco “Pancho” Villa through popular culture and collective memory, 1910-2015” and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

______Date: May 15, 2018 William H. Beezley

______Date: May 15, 2018 Kevin Gosner

______Date: May 15, 2018 Jennifer Jenkins

Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College.

I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.

______Date: May 15, 2018 Dissertation Director: William H. Beezley

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.

SIGNED: Marco A. Macias

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation could not have been finished without the guidance and assistance of numerous people and institutions. First, I want to thank my advisor, Dr. William H. Beezley who always demonstrated interest in my project and willingness to provide key input along the process. I am equally indebted to Dr. Kevin Gosner and Dr. Jennifer Jenkins; their patience and support over the years in fielding questions and fueling lines of inquiry have allowed me to provide this contribution to Villismo scholarship. I am also thankful to Dr. Guadalupe Villa and Dr. Oscar Martinez for their relentless support and advice. To the Department of History at the University of Arizona in Tucson, all my gratitude, my development as a scholar in Latin America was afforded to me by its magnificent faculty. I further need to express thanks and appreciation to the numerous institutions. The staff at University of Texas El Paso Special Collections, University of Arizona’s Library and Special Collections, Archivo General de la Nación, Biblioteca Nacional, Biblioteca Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, and Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia were always helpful and insightful during my research. This research would have not been possible without the amazing support at Center for Latin American Studies and a Thinker Foundation Research Grant that allowed me to travel into various parts of Mexico to conduct research. I am also indebted to the University of Arizona Confluence Center Graduate Fellowship. The Department of History through the William H. Hesketh Scholarship, John P. Rockfellow Award, and the Michael Sweetow Fellopwhip provided additional funds to which I am grateful for. To my parents: for infusing me with a love for Mexico. To my wife and children: for always supporting me. Finally, I wish to thank Kelley Castro, Anabel Galindo, Luis Coronado Guel, Amado Guzman, Allison Huntley, Diana Montaño, Osciel Salazar, Marco A. Sanchez, and Cristina Urias; your friendships and endless hours of heartworm conversations, support, and encouragement through the years have allowed me to reach this stage. Any shortcomings are my own.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ………………… 08

INTRODUCTION ………………… 09

CHAPTER I: Mythmaking in times of revolution ………………… 16

The origins of Doroteo Arango (a.k.a. Francisco Villa) ……………… 17 The start of Pancho Villa’s revolutionary career ……………………… 19 The rise of the Centaur of the North …………………………………… 24 The Centaur of the North ………………………………………………. 31 Challenging Villa’s myth …………………………………………….… 34 Retirement in Canutillo, Durango ……………………………………… 42

CHAPTER II: Pancho Villa Folk Music Hero …………………… 45

Origins of El Corrido …………………………………………………… 46 Corridos Villistas ……………………………………………………….. 49 Campaign Songs ………………………………………………………… 64 Songs Honoring Francisco Villa ………………………………………… 66 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………. 70

CHAPTER III: Pancho Villa in Cartoons and Comic Books ………....…………. 73

Villa in the 1910s ………………………………………………………… 75 Villa in Comic Books during the 1930s and 1940s ……………………… 84 The golden years of Villa comic books: 1960s ………………………….. 87 Comics and Cartoons after the 1980s and Onward ………………………. 94 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 100

CHAPTER IV: Pancho Villa Movie Star ………………… 103 A Film Legacy ………………………………………………………… 104 First wave of Villa Cinema ……………………………………………. 113 Second Wave of Villa Cinema ………………………………………… 118 Third Wave of Villa Cinema …………………………………………... 123 Conclusion …………………………………………………………….. 129

CHAPTER V: Politics of Remembrance ………………… 131

Towards gaining political recognition …………………………………… 134 Villa’s Official Government Recognition ……………………………….. 141 Villa, recognized as pillar of the revolution ………………………..….… 147 Cultural Festivities in Honor of Villa in Mexico and the United States .… 154 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 157

CONCLUSION ………………… 160 Final Considerations …………………………………………………. 164

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………… 167

Cover Photo: IMPACTO - VII, 15, 59 “Los Dorados Conmemoran El Natalicio del Gral. Villa” ISSUE/AHUNAM/Archivo Martin Luis Guzmán Franco/Caja-298, Exp. 12.

ABSTRACT

Villa’s memory still permeates the fabric of Mexican society throughout popular culture and collective memory. Why Villa survives through myth continues relatively unexplored. To analyze the origins of the myth and it construction over time provides an understanding of how ordinary people participated in fashioning their own ideas of nationalism. This dissertation traces the myth of Villa as a social construct of ongoing inventions of traditions started in the 1910s and preserved in the 1920s by veterans that formed collective memories premised in the creation of the División del Norte. It further describes and analyses how from the 1930s onward, these collective memories were transplanted to a wider audience by mass media; further shaping imagined perceptions that in one way or another persist until our day. In crafting this discourse, I examine newspapers, music, political cartoons, comic books, movies, and ephemera to show how Villa’s image is a social/cultural construct brought together by the synergy of popular culture and collective memory that over the twentieth century produced a carefully woven, multifaceted narrative.

INTRODUCTION

Early morning on July 20, 1923, Francisco “Pancho” Villa stepped into his 1919 Dodge and drove off with his secretary and a small entourage of bodyguards. After cruising the streets of Parral, Chihuahua, the black car slowly turned on Calle Gabino Barreda, when suddenly a handful of assassins opened fire, killing Villa and his men. Villa’s lifeless body slumped with his right hand gripping his gun holster, a sign that in the split second it took the assassins to fire, he tried reaching for his revolver. News of the events in this small northern town quickly reached all corners of Mexico. That evening, newspapers reported the death, posting pictures of the bodies the next day. Villa had been assassinated, but his legend continued to grow.

Today, Villa’s memory still permeates the fabric of Mexican society throughout popular culture and collective memory. In his work on the life of Francisco Villa, historian Friedrich

Katz wrote there was a void to be filled in analyzing, describing, and assessing the development of Villa’s legend.1 Katz observed three basic versions of Villa’s legend. The first myth is based

on Villa’s remembrance dictated to his secretary between 1913 and 1914, building him as a

victim of socio-economic conditions prevalent during the presidency of Porfirio Diaz. The

reason for why Villa turns into banditry was because he defended his sister’s honor against a

local ranch owner, and as a consequence, was pursued by state authorities in Durango and

Chihuahua. The second myth emerged from people opposed to Villa and portrays him as a

wholesale murderer, ruthless bandit that enjoyed torturing his victims. An important proponent

of this version is Cecilia Herrera’s Francisco Villa Ante la Historia. In her interpretation, the

author notes that her resolution to write started shortly after a commemoration to honor Villa

1 Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 792-793. 9 took place in the 1930s. Recollecting testimonies from families with grievances, Herrera herself lost close relatives in a family feud with Villa.2 The third myth was largely created from popular

ballads and traditions that emerged during the revolution. Rooted in popular culture, this version

of the myth plays up the image of Villa as an important social bandit in Chihuahua and Durango

prior to 1910.3

For historian Miguel Ángel Berumen, oral tradition played an important role in the

conformation of Villa’s myth. For Berumen, this process takes root when a series of perceptions

over Villa start to circulate from word of mouth toward the end of 1913 and take a firm hold in

media during January of 1914, with the successful advance over Ojinaga, and the famous

photograph of Villa riding siete leguas is taken.4 Similarly, scholar Mark Cronlund Anderson

asserts that Villa’s rise to fame took place in the autumn of 1913 and early winter of 1914.5

Nonetheless, if the autumn of 1913 is taken as the point of departure, it does not explain the historical processes that lead Francisco Villa to be in charge of revolutionary forces in the first place. Failing to trace how the myth starts creates a vacuum in understanding the continuity of a process that initiated in 1910.

To historian Ilene V. O’Malley, myth is central to the regime that rooted their political culture on the revolution. In her study of hero cults and the institutionalization of the regime between 1920 and 1940, O’Malley discusses how the government guided this process by using cultural constructs that co-opted the revolutionary potential of the popular classes.6 In the case of

Villa, O’Malley also noted how the regime initially ignored his contributions to the revolution

2 Celia Herrera, Francisco Villa Ante la Historia (México D.F., Costa Amic Editores, 1981), 11. 3 Katz, 2-8. 4 Miguel Ángel Berumen, Pancho Villa: la Construcción del Mito (México, D.F.: Oceano, 2009), 27-33. 5 Mark Cronlund Anderson. Pancho Villa’s Revolution by Headlines (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 7. 6 Ilene V. O’Malley, The Myth of the Revolution: Hero Cults and the Institutionalization of the Mexican State, 1920-1940 (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 1986), 7. 10 and so instead, his image was shaped by popular tastes that flourished and multiplied his popularity as exemplified by the amount of songs, stories, movies, and ephemera he has inspired.7

Despite the immense body of work and literature on Villa and the Revolution, why Villa

survives through myth continues relatively unexplored. To analyze the origins of the myth and it construction over time provides an understanding of how ordinary people participated in fashioning their own ideas of nationalism. This dissertation traces the myth of Villa as a social construct of ongoing inventions of traditions started in the 1910s and preserved in the 1920s by

veterans that formed collective memories premised in the creation of the División del Norte. It

further describes and analyses how from the 1930s onward, these collective memories were

transplanted to a wider audience by mass media; further shaping imagined perceptions that in

one way or another persist until our day. By doing so, generations of men and women succeeded

in challenging a regime unwilling to recognize the contributions of Villa to the revolution. In this

endeavor, the scholarship of Eric Hobsbawm, Terence Ranger, Maurice Halbwachs, Benedict

Anderson, Serge Gruzinski, Jean Baudrillard, and Néstor García Canclini serves as a theoretical framework for understanding the process that led to Villa’s myth, and his incorporation into collective memory and popular culture.

Historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger argue that traditions are invented through a process of formalization and ritualization, characterized by reference to the past imposed by repetition. Traditions are invented to legitimize institutions, form social cohesion, or inculcate value systems and conventions of behavior.8 If they lack genuine popular resonance, new official

7 Ibid., 98. 8 Eric J. Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 9. 11 public holidays, ceremonies, heroes, or symbols can fail. These changes occur more frequently when a rapid transformation of society weakens or destroys the social patterns for which former traditions were designed, producing new ones.9 Ultimately, the government is in charge of

linking formal and informal, official and unofficial inventions of tradition as illustrated by the

case of Villa.10 In northern Mexico, one of the earliest processes of formalization became the

ceremonies held by veterans to commemorate the assassination of their fallen leader. As the

scope of these ceremonies grew over time, the government slowly incorporated and recognized

Villa’s importance among other revolutionaries, culminating with the transfer of his remains to

the Monumento de la Revolución in 1976.

Memory does not occur in a vacuum. For philosopher and sociologist Maurice

Halbwachs, memory is constructed by the context that surrounds an individual. In this way

collective memory reconstructs experiences under the pressure of society to create a cult of the

past.11 Thus, collective memory does not preserve the past, but constructs it with the aid of the

material traces, rites, text, and traditions left behind, and with the aid, moreover, of psychological

and social data, that is to say, with the present.12 These memory constructions can be triggered

with the help of landmarks that individuals always carry within themselves. It suffices to look

around, to think about others, and to locate persons within a similar social framework in order to

retrieve these memories.13 Benedict Anderson elaborates on the idea that all communities larger than those with face-to-face contact are imagined, meaning that the nation is conceived as a place of comradeship where cultural artifacts identify the community. To Anderson, the key to

9 Ibid., 4. 10 Ibid., 263-264. 11 Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 51. 12 Ibid., 119. 13 Ibid., 175. 12 understanding the formation of imagined communities is provided by the way these artifacts transfer self-consciousness to a greater variety of social realms.14 In the case of Villa, former

fighters used mechanism such as corridos, cartoons, film, and ephemera to remember their time

with the División del Norte. Monuments and commemorations further helped reinforce these

social frameworks created during the years of fighting.

More broadly, scholar Serge Gruzinski argues that collective remembrance is not

imposed by one homogeneous group, but rather that it is a process negotiated among different

sectors in society.15 This syncretism explains and reinforces why certain celebrations, customs,

or traditions, become popular as with the case of the Virgin of Guadalupe, or Villa. In regards to

ephemera, scholar Jean Baudrillard discusses how consumption is an active form of relationship

to society and the world that founds a cultural system.16 Anthropologist Néstor García Canclini

adds that when goods are acquired they become valuable and help distinguish individuals in a

society.17 In addition to celebrations and public events, the consumption of ephemera further reinforces an individual’s culture and in turn identifies them with other members of society, partaking in an imagined community that surrounds a historical event or figure. In the case of

Villa, this idea is reinforced by the number of current day commemorations, or cultural artifacts available to consumers in museums, markets, and online retailers through the world.

This work, divided in five chapters, uses a thick description to explore the elaboration and conservation of Villa’s myth from multiple perspectives. Chapter 1 uses contemporary newspapers to analyze how the origins of Villa’s myth started, and provides the historical

14 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London; New York: Verso, 2003), 4-6. 15 Serge Gruzinski, Images at War: Mexico from Columbus to Blade Runner (1492-2019) (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2001), 226. 16 Jean Baudrillard, The System of Objects, (Verso: London; New York, 1996), 199. 17 Néstor García Canclini, Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), 20. 13 backdrop for understanding and contextualizing the remaining chapters. This process did not start in the autumn of 1913 as stated by historians Miguel Ángel Berumen and Mark Cronlund

Anderson, but rather, was a progression of events building from 1910 that over time allowed

Villa to control Chihuahua and eventually lead the celebrated División Del Norte. Understanding why Villa became an important figure also helps determine the interrelation of the legends described by Katz. Chapter 1 also explores how the myth of Villa changed after reaching the zenith of his power in late 1914, his attack on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, his retirement in

1920, and after his assassination in July of 1923.

Chapter 2 examines music and how it became one of the earliest and most common ways for veterans and people to spread and maintain Villa’s memory. Music, as described by scholars

Stephen Neufeld and Michael Matthews, serves in challenging, or legitimizing dominant discourses of power. They also add that lyrical verse powerfully resonates with audiences who appreciated its potential to challenge power.18 So through music, Villa’s myth was reinforced and popularized across wider audiences. By using contemporary corridos to contextualize the

names and places everyday people considered important during the revolution, this chapter

reinforces the argument that Villa was not a widely known social bandit in Chihuahua prior to

1910. It is only as the revolution progressed that Villa figured more prominently in corridos and ballads still reproduced today.

Chapter 3 analyses the ever-changing image of Villa through political cartoons, and later comic books. Comic books in particular, played a significant role in transforming Villa’s image from generation to generation because they continued to be one of the most popular and cheapest forms of entertainment available to mass audiences. Villa figures more prominently than any

18 Stephen Neufeld and Michel Matthews, Mexico in Verse, A History of Music, Rhyme, and Power (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015), 5. 14 other historical figure in decade after decade of Comic Books that range from the 1950s until the early 2000s. From outlaw bandit to famous revolutionary, the rise of Villa’s in this genre perpetuates, reinforces, and re-shapes, many of the stereotypes described by Katz in his three descriptions of Villa’s legend.

Chapter 4 examines the image of Villa and its representation on film, another form of mass entertainment. Recognizing its potential, Villa is the only revolutionary to participate in his own movie produced by a U.S. corporation. Over time, his image became the most relevant revolutionary to figure among movie plotlines with both national and internationally reception. A

close examination of these films allows for an analysis of how the image of Villa was crafted and

re-fashioned through the decades as cinema evolved in both Mexico and the United States.

Chapter 5 analyzes how the image of Villa began as a popular symbol that was over time incorporated, conserved, and protected by the regime in the form of textbooks, speeches delivered on patriotic holidays, ceremonies, ephemera, and other forms of public manifestations used to justify revolutionary unity and more recently, cultural patrimony. The epilogue further assesses an array of ephemera that surrounds the image of Villa, continually serving to reinforce people’s culture and in turn identify them with other members of society that partake in a shared imagined community of villismo.

CHAPTER I Mythmaking in times of revolution

Colonel Francisco Villa has been wrongfully stated to have been a bandit in former times… The best proof that Pancho Villa is esteemed by the people all around Chihuahua, where he has lived, is that in a very short time he has gathered an army of more than 500 men whom he has perfectly disciplined. All his soldiers like him and respect him.

Letter from Francisco I. Madero to El Paso Morning Times, April 25, 1911.19

On the evening of April 27, 1911, a music group brought from El Paso to the outskirts of

Ciudad Juárez played the Mexican national anthem to over two thousand rebels awaiting

Francisco I. Madero to begin a troop review. The ceremony got under way when Federico

González Garza addressed the crowd with a list of promotions for revolutionary officers. After

González speech, Madero bestowed upon Pascual Orozco the title of Brigadier General with masses cheering and music playing in the background.20 Afterwards, he called Guiseppe

Garibaldi and praised him as a brave man willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the

downtrodden.21 Among other men honored during this ceremony, a young 32-year-old by the name of Francisco Villa was ratified publicly as colonel. Days prior, Madero sent an open letter to El Paso Morning Times, defending his decision to recruit, and promote Villa with the premise that he was wrongfully persecuted as a bandit for protecting his sister’s honor. In hindsight, his

public ceremony and the newspaper article constituted the origins of Villa’s legend and myth.

19 “Madero Defends Colonel Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, April 25, 1911. 20 “Madero Presents Army Commissions,” El Paso Morning Times, April 28, 1911. 21 “Commissions Bestowed by Madero on Ranking Officers of His Army.” El Paso Herald, April 28, 1911. 16

Analyzing contemporary newspapers reveals how Villa’s myth started and evolved from

1910 until his assassination in 1923. Contextualizing this transformation informs why he became the leader of the División del Norte in 1913, and continued to lead men despite his defeats in

1915, the Punitive Expedition in 1916, and his retirement in 1920. This information provides the historical backdrop for understanding how the myth of Villa intertwines collective memory and popular culture through the following chapters.

The origins of Doroteo Arango (a.k.a. Francisco Villa)

A thunderstorm22 at three o’clock on June 5, 1878, announced that the marriage of

Agustín Arango and Micaela Arámbula had welcomed its first-born, José Doroteo Arango

Arámbula, in a house located at La Coyotada, 14 miles away from San Juan del Río, Durango.

Following Catholic tradition, Agustín and Micaela decided on Doroteo as a name because he was

born on Saint Doroteo de Tiro day. Physician Rubén Osorio offers evidence that Villa’s

biological father was Luis Fermán Gurrola, a relatively well to do Jewish-Austrian who settled in

Durango during the 1870s.23 Whether true or false, the unexpected death of Agustín Arango left

Doroteo in charge of the household and his siblings: Antonio, Hipólito, Martina, and Mariana.

Dictating his autobiography in 1914, Doroteo, when he was sixteen years old, recalled coming

back home one day in 1894 and witnessing the local landowner trying to take his sister way.

Doroteo ran home and quickly came back with a pistol. He fired the gun and wounded Agustín

López Negrete in the leg, fleeing to a nearby canyon.

22 Halden Braddy, Cock of the Walk: Qui-qui-ri-quí! The Legend of Pancho Villa (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1955), 8. 23 Rubén Osorio, The Secret Life of Pancho Villa (Alpine: Sul Ross State University, 2000). 17

Villa fled to a nearby canyon and joined the band of Ignacio Parra after wandering alone in the mountains. Parra was an outlaw who at one point belonged to the gang of Heraclio Bernal.

Bernal and Parra were social bandits because they engaged in illicit activities not considered as criminal by locals but were so regarded by government officials.24 Villa self-identified as a social

bandit and justified his life prior to the revolution, contributing to the epic myth.

Avoiding capture, Doroteo Arango changed his name to Francisco Villa and moved back

and forth between Durango and Chihuahua, eventually settling in the latter. The move to

Chihuahua allowed him to tap into serrano culture founded on resistance and based on a social

memory of the past frontier past25 Fluctuating between honest, and not so honest occupations, he

roamed through Chihuahua and Texas, employed as a butcher, mineworker, railroad contractor,

ranch laborer, and mule runner.26

From the array of jobs mentioned, his muleteer career fitted Villa and his unique skills.

This employment allowed him to travel through various serrano communities across the state,

providing Villa with an opportunity to create a social network that served him during the

revolution for the purposes of recruitment and protection. These years in Chihuahua downplay

the impression that he was widely known as a bandit, because if this were the case, he would

have been undesirable among employers and serrano folk alike. No historical record has ever

been found of Villa operating as a bandit.27

24 Eric J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels (New York: Praeger, 1963), 15. 25 Ana Maria Alonso, Thread of Blood (Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1995), 7, 174. 26 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, Pancho Villa: Retrato Autobiográfico, 1894-1914 (México, D.F.: Taurus, 2005), 128-129, Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford: Standard University Press, 1998), 69, Jessie Peterson and Thelma Cox Knoles, Pancho Villa: Intimate Recollections by People Who Knew Him (New York: Hasting House Publishers, 1977). 27 Friedrich Katz in his research did not find any mention of Doroteo or Villa in Mexican newspapers. Writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II asserts that the only mention of Villa as a bandit comes from a Chihuahua newspaper from March 6, 1907, that reported on a gang formed by Gumersindo Ortega, Sotero Aguilar, Doroteo Arango, and José Gallegos roaming the region of San Juan del Río and Canatlán. The problem with Taibo’s assertion is that he does not mention what Chihuahua newspaper he is referencing. Also, why would a newspaper from Chihuahua 18

Serrano culture consists of tight-knit communities shaped by historical memory; people not only knew each other, but also in many instances built family ties. By 1902 Villa made friendships with a number of serranos that knew him as El Güero.28 Taking into consideration the forces that influenced the organization and dynamics of these communities is vital because they come together as brigades during the revolution.29

The start of Pancho Villa’s revolutionary career

One of Villa’s first deeds reported by newspapers was the assassination of Claro Reza in

September of 1910. An ex-convict, Reza was commissioned by the police to denounce cattle rustlers when he was surprised and gunned down by three men that escaped the crime scene.30

The newspaper did not provide names, but in his autobiography, Villa claimed responsibility for

the assassination, justifying his action was in self-defense because Reza was going to turn him in

to the authorities.31

Three days prior to November 20, Villa ate lunch with his recruiter and mentor, Abraham

González, and the fifteen men he enlisted to start the revolution in San Ándres, Chihuahua.

Joined by an additional 375 men at Sierra Azul, Villa’s first revolutionary act was to attack a

train with soldiers of the 12th Battalion headed to reinforce the garrison at Ciudad Guerrero.32

These attacks were reported in the United States, but no names are given.33 Days later, Villa

report on activities from Canatlán, a community located in the heart of Durango and almost 200 miles from any city in Chihuahua? Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Panco Villa: una biografía narrativa (México, D.F.: Planeta, 2006), 40. 28 Ana Maria Alonso, Thread of Blood, 174. 29 John Eusebio Klingemann. “Triumph of the Vanquished: Pancho Villa’s Army in Revolutionary Mexico” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arizona, 2008), 63. 30 “Asesinato de Claro Reza,” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH), Sep. 10, 1910. 31 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 135. 32 “Hoja de Servicio del General Francisco Villa,” ISSUE/AHUNAM/Archivo Martin Luis Guzmán Franco/Caja-120, Exp. 2. 33 “Real Fighting in Progress,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 24, 1910. 19 engaged 600 federal forces within twelve miles of Chihuahua City with no outcome.34 By

December, Villa named in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and El Correo.35 In the cold weather of the Chihuahua desert, Villa’s men surprised fifty rurales near Satevó, taking their horses, weapons, and ammunition. Heading south, Villa secretly entered Parral dressed as a coal peddler to determine the city’s defenses, and instead decided to rendezvous with Francisco

I. Madero at Hacienda de Bustillos. Making camp near the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, the revolutionaries prepared for their next move.

From Ciudad Juárez, Madero publicly absolved Francisco Villa in an open letter sent to

El Paso Morning Times. In the letter, Madero claimed Villa was wrongfully accused of banditry because he defended his family honor. For proof, Madero avowed that in Chihuahua people did not recognize Villa as a bandit, or assassin; asserting that the revolution would never use unworthy men among their ranks. This was why, according to Madero, Villa had gathered five hundred men so quickly.36 This open letter marked the birth of the Villa legend into the

international sphere by inadvertently associating him to Robin Hood.37 The importance of the

letter, and the subsequent public promotion of Villa as a colonel become essential moments

because it absolved the former bandit and broaden his appeal among revolutionaries. This is

likely one of the reasons why he was able to exert influence in Chihuahua after Madero’s

assassination in 1913.

The attack on Ciudad Juárez started the evening on May 8, when Pascual Orozco and

Villa received news in El Paso, Texas, that fighting broke out between the federal army and

34 “Sunday Battle Fought within Twelve Miles of Chihuahua,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 28, 1910. 35 “No Quarter Given To Mexican Rebels: Wounded Are Bayoneted,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 1910. “Utter Rout For Rebels,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 1910. and “La Situación Delicada,” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH), Nov. 22, 1910. 36 “Madero Defends Colonel Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, Apr. 25, 1911. 37 Katz, 102. 20 revolutionary forces.38 Arguing an inability to control their men, Orozco and Villa convinced

Madero to authorize a full assault on Ciudad Juárez. General Juan N. Navarro surrendered the

city to Félix Terrazas a few days later.39 In the aftermath of the battle, Villa accepted ten

thousand pesos and retired, leaving his forces under orders of Raúl Madero.40 Francisco Madero

welcomed the presence of foreign journalists because he recognized their importance in

generating favorable public acceptance.41 After also receiving positive press coverage, Villa

must have realized its importance in shaping public opinion.

Shortly after the victory at Ciudad Juárez, Villa visited El Norte newspaper and declared

his intentions to establish himself through hard work.42 To this means, Villa brought his brothers

Hipólito and Antonio to establish a butcher shop in Chihuahua City.43 Among his clients,

Abraham González placed an order for ten head of cattle.44 Colonel Villa used his newfound

middle-class status to run ads in a Chihuahua weekly, El 30-30, offering the best and cheapest meat.45 During this time, Villa married Luz Corral in San Ándres and also brought her to

Chihuahua City. Luz Corral mentioned that Villa got up at four in the morning to supply his meat

shops and have them ready for morning customers.46 In at least two instances, Madero called for

Villa to visit him in Mexico City to ask on Orozco’s behavior.

38 David Romo, Ringside Seat to the Revolution (El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 2005), 6. Villa was at the Elite Confectionary eating an Elite Baseball: a scoop of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream for ten cents. 39 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 197, Katz, 111. 40 Hoja de Servicio del General Francisco Villa,” ISSUE/AHUNAM/Archivo Martin Luis Guzmán Franco/Caja-120, Exp. 2. 41 Pedro Siller and Miguel Ángel Berumen, 1911: La Batalla de Ciudad Juárez, Tomo I (Ciudad Juárez, CHIH: Cuadro por Cuadro, 2003), 109. 42 “Una Visita del Sr. Francisco Villa,” El Norte (Chihuahua, CHIH), Jun. 29, 1911. 43 Katz, 149. 44 “Correspondencia de Francisco Villa: Venta de Reces a Abraham González,” Aug. 9, 1911. AGN. GD 263 Colección Revolución, caja 1, ex. 45, fs. 1-8. This handwritten letter demonstrates that Villa knew how to read and write before his imprisonment in 1912. 45 Semanario de Política y Variedades “El 30-30” (Chihuahua, CHIH), Sep., 9 & Oct., 7, 1911. 46 Luz Corral de Villa, Pancho Villa en la Intimidad (México, D.F., 1948), 28. 21

Villa was dedicated to private life when Orozco revolted against Madero in February of

1912. Immediately, Villa sent a letter to El Correo warning of imminent danger and headed towards southern Chihuahua to prepare for war.47 Chased by José Inés Salazar, Villa

incorporated himself to the federal garrison sent to combat Orozco at Camargo.48 International newspapers lauded Villa for remaining steadfast to President Madero.49 In a personal letter,

President Madero named Villa honorary Brigadier General and acknowledged his loyalty, asking

him to report to General Victoriano Huerta immediately.50 In June, and less than two weeks after

the defeat of Orozco at Rellano, Huerta ordered Villa’s execution claiming insubordination over

the theft of a horse. Only the timely intervention of President Madero saved Villa, who was

already in front of the firing squad.51

Imprisoned in Mexico City, Villa directed letters to Madero, González, and others

seeking his freedom. In one of these handwritten letters, he outlined everything he lost during the

Orozco revolt. Villa claimed to have lost corn, beans, lard, money, horses, and livestock. He also

declared providing support for three women that lost their husbands while fighting at El Tecolote

in 1910.52 In September, Villa wrote to Madero again, clamoring for justice, and petitions to be

set free, or sent to Morelos if necessary.53 These letters not only show his sincere attempt to

favor Madero’s intervention on his behalf, even if that meant combating Zapatistas, but also the

relative wealth of his estate before the Orozco uprising.

47 “Carta del Coronel Villa.” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH) Mar. 11-12, 1912. The letter sent to Villa by Pascual Orozco was dated February 7, 1912. 48 “¿Combate Cerca de Camargo?,” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH) Mar. 12-13, 1912. 49 “Commander of the Loyal Mexican Troops,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 9, 1912. 50 Apr.10, 1912. AGN, Mexico D.F., Galería 3, Presidentes, Fondo Presidente Madero, caja 47, ex. 1292-1, fs. 35626. 51 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 251. 52 “Carta de Villa a Madero,” Sin Fecha. AGN. AGN. GD 263 Colección Revolución, caja 1, ex. 45, fs. 1- 8. 53 Rubén Osorio, La Correspondencia de Francisco Villa (Chihuahua: Secretaria de Educación y Cultura del Gobierno del Estado de Chihuahua, 2006). 22

Huerta, U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, and the Chihuahua Oligarchy pressured

Madero to keep Villa imprisoned.54 An example of the latter is a letter to Juan Sanchez Azcona

from Raúl Madero, expressing his concerns based on information received from Chihuahua.55

During the second week of December, Villa granted an interview to Nick Carter, a correspondent from El Pais newspaper. Villa claimed no insubordination, and talked about his faith that justice would prevail.56 Two days before escaping, Villa expressed his willingness to Madero one last

time for an opportunity to return to Chihuahua and capture Pascual Orozco, or die trying.57

At Santiago Tlatelolco Prison, Villa befriended Carlos Jauregui, a clerk that helped him escape by providing a disguise. Villa and Jauregui left through the front door and traveled to

Mazatlán via Manzanillo, on the Limantour. From there, they traveled across the border to

Tucson on the South Pacific Railroad, and then to El Paso, Texas, where he sent word to

Abraham González of his whereabouts.58 During these days, El Correo made it aware to its

Chihuahua readers that Francisco Villa escaped from prison, with unclear whereabouts.59

In El Paso, Villa was joined by Luz Corral, and closely monitored events unfolding in

Mexico.60 El Paso Herald detected his presence in early January after having dinner at Sheldon

Hotel with Aureliano González, Chihuahua’s secretary of state.61 In Mexico City, the decena

tragica culminated in the assassination of Francisco I. Madero, and the rise of Victoriano Huerta

as new President of Mexico. Fearing retaliation, Abraham González tried to escape Chihuahua,

54 Katz, 166-167. 55 “Carta de Raúl Madero a Juan Sanchez Azcona,” Noviembre 9, 1912. AGN. GD 263 Colección Revolución, caja 1, ex. 45, fs. 1-8. 56 “Una Entrevista con el Ex-Revoluciónario Villa,” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH) Dec., 11, 1912. 57 Rubén Osorio, La Correspondencia de Francisco Villa, 37-38. 58 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 272-273. 59 “El Gral. Villa Sigue Incognito en México, D.F.,” El Correo (Chihuahua, CHIH) Dec., 28, 1912. 60 Luz Corral de Villa, 44, Jessie Peterson and Thelma Cox Knoles, 191. 61 “Escaped Prisoner Enjoys His Liberty,” El Paso Herald, Jan. 13, 1913. 23 but instead was taken prisoner and executed.62 Following the debacle of Madero’s presidency,

only two governors refused to recognize Huerta as president: José Maria Maytorena and

Venustiano Carranza. The former claiming illness escaped to Tucson, while the latter launched

the Plan de Guadalupe against Huerta.

The rise of the Centaur of the North

To prepare for his return to Mexico, Villa obtained $1,500 pesos from Aureliano

González, and another $3,500 pesos from his brother to start buying guns, ammunition, and

horses63. Villa additionally traveled to Tucson, Arizona, and meet with José Maria Maytorena

who he already knew from 1911 in Ciudad Juárez. In Tucson, Villa meet Adolfo de la Huerta at

the Willard Hotel and spoke for hours about Madero’s final moments.64 Villa obtained $2,000

pesos or roughly less than a $1,000 dollars from Maytorena65. Back in El Paso, he purchased

more supplies and crossed the border into Mexico with eight men on March 6, 1913.66

A new phase of the revolution was starting and Villa was at the vanguard. While not the

most prominent revolutionary leader between 1910 and 1912, Villa continuously received

coverage by local, national, and international press. With the deaths of González, Madero, and the disloyalty of Orozco, Villa was among a handful of high profile veterans willing to fight

Huerta in Chihuahua. Illustrating his newfound importance, a declaration by Colonel Juan N.

62 William H. Beezley, Insurgent Governor: Abraham González and the Mexican Revolution in Chihuahua (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973), 158. 63 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 274. 64 Adolfo de la Huerta, Memorias de don Adolfo de la Huerta (Mexico, D.F.: Ediciones Gúzman, 1958), 55 65 Ibid., 57. 66 Katz, 206, The expedition had 500 cartridges per men, two pounds of coffee, two pounds of sugar, and one pound of salt. 24

Vasquez at Ciudad Juárez, stated the army would maintain and sustain order against bandits such as Francisco Villa.67 Recruitment efforts were also reported internationally.68

The composition of Villa’s army was structured around serrano culture.69 Towns in

Chihuahua were structured around important figures within their communities who witnessed the

encroachment of their rights by the Terrazas-Creel clan, supported by President Porfirio Díaz. In

1910, Francisco Madero associated with this structure through men like Abraham González.70

Pascual Orozco for example, was a widely known figure in the district of Guerrero for his

bravery and skills with weapons acquired during eight years of working as a muleteer.71 Born in

Durango and having lived in southern Chihuahua for many years, Villa had similar skills. He

learned how to use weapons and be resourceful by holding numerous jobs, allowing him to travel

through Durango and Chihuahua.

San Ándres, Chihuahua, was his base of operations in 1910, and in 1913. From this

region, he recruited four hundred men from Chavarría, Santa Isabel, Satevó, Pilar de Conchos,

Valle del Rosario, and San Lorenzo. He also recruited men from Guerrero.72 Luck was on Villa’s

side in April when he attacked a train and captured 122 silver bars worth an estimated $180,000

pesos.73 Moving farther north, they occupied Casas Grandes and organized themselves at

Ascensión, some 180 kilometers from Ciudad Juárez.74 Communication was established with

Sonora and other forces in Chihuahua. Toribio Ortega, operating near Cuchillo Parado,

67 “Juaréz loyal to Gen. Huerta,” El Paso Herald, Feb. 19, 1913. 68 “No Title,” New York Times, Mar. 15, 1913. 69 Klingemann, 55-61. 70 Pedro Salmerón. La División del Norte (México D.F.: Editorial Planeta Mexicana S.A. de C.V., 2006). 71 Michael C. Meyer, Mexican Rebel, Pascual Orozco and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1915 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), 18. 72 “Federal Troops in Sonora Hemmed at Naco-No Escape,” The Temple Daily Telegram, Vol. 6. No. 101. (Temple, TX), Mar. 15, 1913. 73 “Villa Carries Ton of Gold,” San Antonio Express, Vol. 48, No. 121, May 1, 1913. 74 “Villa Warns Ciudad Juárez,” Los Angeles Times, Jun. 24, 1913. & “2,000 men menace Juárez,” The Washington Post, Jun. 26, 1913. 25 supported Villa’s move to southern Chihuahua in exchange for guns and ammunition. These moments were important for Villa, because he solidified his position across Chihuahua. Juan N.

Medina, a former federal officer, trained the irregular men into a well-disciplined army.

Recruiters played on the popular hatred of Victoriano Huerta to ensure supporters. Most of the people that composed the rebels came from ex-maderistas, regional leaders, soldiers of fortune, skilled professionals, and volunteers.75

Villa also gathered support from many in the countryside because he implemented justice

on his own terms. Livestock from the Terrazas lands was distributed among the lower classes

and sold to buy equipment for his army, while criminals were captured and executed.76 By this

time Villa, attracted so much notoriety from the United States, that President Woodrow Wilson

assigned George Carothers to assume the duties of special agent in Chihuahua and monitor his

activities.77 In September, rebel forces concentrated near Camargo and moved towards Jimenez

where they encountered reinforcements from Durango headed by Tomás Urbina.78 A long

acquaintance of Villa, Urbina had attacked and ransacked Durango’s capital but failed to capture

Torreón, Coahuila.79

The decision to name Villa head of the revolutionary forces did not come lightly because

Tomás Urbina and Manuel Chao also claimed the position. Manuel Chao was a schoolteacher

and enjoyed the support of Venustiano Carranza, but lacked the contacts Villa shared through the

state. Tomás Urbina and Villa were compadres and went way back, yet two reasons justified

why Villa was chosen instead. While both men came from the same region in northern Durango,

75 Klingemann, 48. 76 “Mocho’s End,” El Paso Morning Times, Aug. 2, 1913. 77 “George Carothers, U.S. Agent to Villa,” The New York Times, Aug. 5, 1913. 78 “Where’s Villa?” El Paso Morning Times, Sep. 11, 1913. 79 “Dogs Feast on the Dead in Streets of Torreón,” The Washington Post, Sep. 5, 1913. 26

Villa established wider social networks in Chihuahua and already proved resourceful in obtaining means from within the state, Sonora, and across the border. Villa already enjoyed some local, national, and international recognition that viewed him in a positive light, especially when compared to Urbina and his ravage of Victoria de Durango.80 Consolidating the forces of

Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila under the División del Norte is crucial because from thereon out, Villa’s fame grows exponentially to the point that his followers created a mobile imagined community that outlasted the revolution, building the origins of villistas and villismo.

Once organized, the División del Norte moved towards Torreón. The rebels took the city

fairly quickly and implemented order. The fall of Torreón allowed Villa to cut off Chihuahua

from reinforcements and increase his authority among his troops.81 Given the quick capture of

Torreón, newspapers did not report until days after.82 Villa’s popularity became such that a letter

sent to Luz Corral regarding the attack on Torreón was widely published in U.S. newspapers.83

Villa left Calixto Contreras in charge of Torreón and moved his troops towards Chihuahuan

City.84 For various days, the rebel forces attacked the city to no avail.85 In his memoirs, Villa

suggests one last attack on Chihuahua as a distraction to move his troops north and make the

enemy believe they were disbanding south towards Parral.86 Established at El Sauz, a train caring

coal from Ciudad Juárez was intercepted before reaching the capital.

With the train at their disposal and the element of surprise, Villa set in motion a surprise

attack to capture the border community on November 15. Before daylight, a train full of

80 “Durango Looting Scene of Horror, American Asserts,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 7, 1913. 81 Katz, 215. 82 “Torreón Taken by Rebels,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 8, 1913. 83 “Villa Evacuates City,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1, 1913, “General Villa and His Rebel Troops Moved Out September 19,” San Antonio Express, Vol. 48, No. 274 , Oct. 1, 1913. 84 “Villa Moves on Chihuahua,” The New York Times, Oct. 31, 1913. 85 “Rebel Defeat Overwhelming,” The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 1913. 86 Guadalupe and Rosa Helia Villa, 279. 27 revolutionaries reached their target and stormed the city to the surprise of federal garrison.87

Those officers not able to escape towards El Paso were executed.88 In the United States,

newspapers published photographs of Villa and remarked the attack as clever.89 Villa ordered

strict order and celebrated with both Mexicans and Americans from El Paso who crossed into

Mexico for the occasion.90 In evaluating U.S. newspapers on Villa’s victory, the balance is

positive. In addition to taking the city, the Trojan train tactic brought wider attention to the

events unfolding in Mexico.

From Ciudad Juárez, Villa organized his forces to face José Inés Salazar. The battle of

Tierra Blanca took place in late November on a sandbank located a few miles south of Ciudad

Juárez.91. The inclusion of foreign newsmen with rebel forces further drove the interest of U.S. audiences about the events taking place in Mexico.92 The success at Tierra Blanca left the

Federal army in disarray and opened the possibility for the División del Norte to takeover

Chihuahua.93 Villa declared to U.S. newspapers that Chihuahua’s capital would fall within ten

days.94 At the state capital, General Salvador Mercado decided to evacuate towards Ojinaga

while José Inés Salazar and Pascual Orozco moved west.95

On request from U.S. consul Marion Letcher, Mercado left 200 soldiers to police the city

that received Francisco Villa and his División del Norte in early December. 96 Newspapers in the

87 “Take Juaréz by Clever Ruse,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 16, 1913. 88 “125 Prisoners Taken and Captors Begin Putting Them to Death,” New York Times, Nov. 16, 1913. [The title is an error of the newspaper] 89 “Rebel General Who Captured Juaréz, Opposite El Paso,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 16, 1913. 90 “Villa’s Troops Hold Fiesta,” The Los Angeles Times Nov. 17, 1913. 91 The reason not to fight in Juaréz was to avoid retaliation from the U.S. - Victoriano Huerta had already granted permission to fire upon El Paso, surely adding towards his negative coverage and favoring Villa for deciding to take the battle outside the city, “Huerta Gave Order to Fire on El Paso,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 1913. 92 “Mexicans Fight to Hold Juaréz,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 25, 1913. 93 “Fighting at Juaréz,” The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 25, 1913. 94 “Chihuahua City Expected to Fall in a Few Days,” The Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 1, 1913. 95 “Federals Desert Chihuahua City,” The New York Times, Dec. 2, 1913. 96 “Rebels Massing for Their March to Mex Capital,” The Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 5, 1913. 28

U.S. reported positively and reminded its readers that the supreme military chief of Chihuahua was once a bandit.97 A publication from The New York Times included various photographs of

Villa, describing him as a “vicious-faced man of 35, very much in need of a shave… unkempt of

dress and body, and crude of speech, in every way unattractive and even repulsive”. 98 Going on, the newspaper documented that his international recognition came in the spring of 1911 when fighting for Madero.

Villa became governor and exerted pressure on the merchants of Chihuahua City to supply him with resources. In early December, El Paso Herald announced a full-page story of

Villa with images and a biography full of erroneous facts. In this version, the reason why be becomes a bandit is because he killed a military officer in order to protect the honor of his sister, forcing him to flee to the mountains of Chihuahua and eventually joined Madero in 1910. And

while parts of these stories are not accurate, they are relevant because they keep showing up and

were used in cultural representations in subsequent decades.99 On Christmas Day, 1913, Leslie’s

Magazine dedicated the cover of its 400,000-issue to Francisco Villa and his ‘On to Mexico’

statement, made to news correspondents earlier that month.100 The front cover featured an image

of Villa’s photograph that Jim Alexander took in April of 1911. This type of ongoing coverage in conjunction with the growing importance of Villa to the revolutionaries attracted the attention of locals and foreigners alike.101 This image also appears in cultural representations over the years.

97 “Villa to Occupy City, He Quits as Bandit,” The Los Angeles Times, Dec. 1913. 98 “Villa, Bandit and Brute, May be Mexican President,” The New York Times, Dec. 14, 1913. 99 “Pancho Villa, From Bandit to Dictator,” El Paso Herald, Dec. 6, 1913. 100 “’On to Mexico!’” The New York Times, Dec. 1, 1913. 101 Jimmy Hare also took a picture of Villa with the same clothing in April 1911. Hare, an Englishman was an active photojournalist during the Spanish-American war, the Russo-Japanese war, the Mexican Revolution, the First Balkan war, and World War I. Another way the Alexander photograph reached a wider audience was through postcards mailed from the border to acquaintances. The Columbian exposition held in Chicago in 1893 had made postcards popular, reaching a distribution of more than 677 million by 1908 during the golden age that ended in 1915. Leslie’s Illustated Weekly Newspaper CXVII No. 3042 (New York, NY), December 25, 1913. 29

After General Pánfilo Natera failed to take Ojinaga, Villa assembled his troops. Villa brought his army and a movie-picture contract to Ojinaga, 102 The final battle for the state of

Chihuahua was widely reported and photographed. At Ojinaga, John Davidson Wheeland took the iconic photograph of Villa riding Siete Leguas for the Mutual Film Corporation. Many trace all versions of Villa’s myth back to this photograph.103

The victory at Ojinaga left Villa in control of Chihuahua. Immediately after the triumph,

Villa shared with news reporters that Torreón was next.104 In late January, the first films of

Ojinaga reach U.S. audiences in New York, but no battle scenes were taken because the attack occurred at night. What audiences saw instead was a well-organized and effective fighting force on ammunition trains.105

In early February, the U.S. lifted an arms embargo. This allowed Villa to organize his

forces and move towards the interior.106 In Chihuahua, Villa granted interviews to foreign journalists. He praised the Americans and declared his dream to establish military colonies where each man would get training and work the fields so they could be good citizens.107 The article

expressed Villa’s ideology; that each man be given the opportunity to be industrious and

productive individuals.

Actually, Villa’s media coverage started weeks after the División del Norte took Torreón

in September of 1913; and grew after the surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez. His quick attack and advance against the state capital in a matter of weeks highlighted the potential of his military

102 “Villa at the Front: ‘Movie’s Sign Him Up,” The New York Times, Jan. 7, 1914. 103 John Mraz. Fotografiar la Revolución Mexicana (México D.F.: INAH, 2010), 229-230. 104 “‘On to Mexico City’ the ‘Grito’ of the rebels,” El Paso Morning Times, Jan. 12, 1914. 105 “The Villa Movies Shock Aged Madero,” The New York Times, Jan. 23, 1914. 106 “An Act of Justice, Says Gen. Villa.” The New York Times, Feb. 4, 1914, Villa’s popularity had reached such a degree that in Ciudad Juaréz a racetrack horse bared his name, “Fast Workouts on Juaréz Racetracks,” El Paso Morning Times, Feb. 8, 1914. 107 “General Villa Tells Plans for Vast Industrial Republic,” El Paso Morning Times, Feb. 14, 1914. 30 strength. This prompted foreign journalists to travel to northern Mexico and report on his upcoming exploits. Another reason was location. Chihuahua allowed for rapid communication to the United States, so reporters could move quicker between borders to send their stories and restock on supplies.

The Centaur of the North

Not all media coverage of Villa was positive during this time. In February, news surfaced

of ranch owner William S. Benton’s execution. A British subject, Benton confronted Villa about

confiscated property and was killed the moment he tried to pull his gun. Despite inconsistent

stories surrounding the assassination; international reaction not only condemned the crime, but

many others against foreign nationals.108 Upwards of two thousand demonstrators gathered at

Cleveland Square and thereafter at El Paso Theater to protest the death of Benton.109 Venustiano

Carranza finally put the matter to rest by justifying Villa’s actions in a published telegram sent to

various media outlets.110

In March, Venustiano Carranza sent Felipe Ángeles to confer with Villa. Ángeles was a foremost expert in artillery, trained in Europe and among the last to see Francisco I. Madero alive.111 The División del Norte mobilized on the outskirts of Ciudad Lerdo, and prepared their

assault on Torreón, defended by ten thousand federal soldiers under the command of General

José Refugio Velasco. After eleven days of terrible fighting, the federal garrison abandoned their

artillery and evacuated the city towards Saltillo.112 Villa strictly prohibited sacking, pillage, and

108 “El Paso Citizens Condemn the Killing of W.S. Benton,” The New York Times, Feb. 21, 1914. 109 “Protest is Sent to Washington,” El Paso Morning Times, Feb. 21, 1914. 110 “Carranza Defends Villa,” The New York Times, 24, 1914. 111 “Carranza Wants Foreign Consuls to Recognize Him,” The Atlanta Constitution, Mar. 15, 1914. 112 “Torreón Falls Into the Hands of the Rebels,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 3, 1914. 31 alcohol consumption. The victory at Torreón underscored the ineffectiveness of Victoriano

Huerta to control the north, and left Zacatecas remaining as the last bastion of Federal resistance.

In an effort to undermine Villa, Venustiano Carranza commissions Pánfilo Natera to take

Zacatecas. Carranza ordered Villa not to advance. Villa sent Silvestre Terrazas to consult with the first chief and alleviate growing grievances.113 Villa and Carranza held unsuccessful

meetings over telegraph, and the former renounced his command of the División del Norte. All

the other commanding officers convinced Villa to remain and to attack Zacatecas without

Carranza’s permission.114 According to Silvestre Terrazas, the idea was to take Zacatecas and

report to Carranza as nothing occurred.115 In Zacatecas, the Federal army took particular

emphasis in defending the high ground at La Bufa, and El Grillo. The revolutionaries suffered a great deal of losses, but captured both strongholds and precipitated a hastily federal retreat towards Aguascalientes.116 Villa postponed his attack southward due to a lack of ammunition,

and coal for his trains.117

Journalists focused on the divide between Carranza and Villa. One newspaper reported

how Carranza named Álvaro Obregón and Pablo González both Brigadier Generals, but kept

Villa as Division General despite his triumph at Zacatecas. 118 Adding to the growing attention

for Villa in the U.S., The World’s Work published two articles; one by Joseph Rogers Taylor and

another by George Marvin. Taylor highlighted the Benton incident, and Marvin pointed towards

the popularity and fear of Villa by Chihuahua residents.119 Journalist John T. McCutcheon noted

113 Silvestre Terrazas, El Verdadero Pancho Villa (México, D.F.: Ediciones Era, 1985), 146. 114 “Disavow Allegiance to Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, Jun. 18, 1914. 115 Terrazas, 151. 116 “Heavy Loss in Battle of Zacatecas,” El Paso Herald, Jun. 25, 1914. 117 “Villa Postpones His Campaigns,” Los Angeles Times, Jun. 29, 1914. 118 “Obregón and González Named Major Generals,” El Paso Morning Times, Jul. 1, 1914. 119 George Marvin. “Villa,” The Worlds Work: “Pancho Villa” (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. Jul. 1914), 273. 32 the skyrocket rise of Villa from a persecuted man to a successful military leader, famous the world over.120

Further bickering continued among revolutionaries when Victoriano Huerta left for exile

in July. Álvaro Obregón occupied Mexico City and awaited Carranza’s official entrance.121

Untroubled, Villa stayed in Chihuahua alongside his troops and sent President Woodrow Wilson a proposal for a convention to arrange elections for congress, president and vice-president.122

Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Villa, and Emiliano Zapata sent representatives to the

convention at Aguascalientes. Carranza questioned the legitimacy of the convention and asked

for the resignation of Villa and Zapata. Further disagreement was apparent when the convention

named General Eulalio Gutiérrez provisional president of Mexico.123 To appease Carranza’s

supporters, Villa publicly announced his willingness to face a firing squad together with

Carranza if that brought an end to the problems in Mexico.124 During the convention, an attempt

on Villa’s life was made by Francisco L. Múgica, an Argentine adventurer-assassin supposedly

hired by Pablo González.125

Villa, Zapata, and Euliano Gutiérrez occupied Mexico City in December. At the height of

this recognition, Villa was praised for installing peace and prosperity in Mexico.126 While in

Mexico City, Villa renamed a street after Francisco I. Madero and visited his tomb.127 At the

Palacio Nacional, photographers Antonio Garduño and Manuel Ramos each took photographs of

120 John McCutcheon, “Gen. Villa’s Rise Skyrocket Kind,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Jul 21, 1914. 121 “Carranza’s Army in Mexico City,” The New York Times, Aug. 16, 1914. 122 “Obregón Stands on Villa’s Side,” El Paso Herald, Sep. 9, 1914. 123 “New Man is Named to Rule Mexico,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 2, 1914. 124 John W. Roberts, “Willing to Face Firing Squad with Carranza if Their Deaths will Help in Solution of Nation’s Problems,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 5, 1914. 125 “Plot to Kill Villa,” The New York Times, Oct. 28, 1914. In the 1930s, this incident was turned into a movie covered in chapter 4. 126 “How Peace Came to Mexico,” El Paso Morning Times, Dec. 16, 1914. 127 “Villa Changes Name of Prominent Mexico City Thoroughfare,” El Paso Morning Times, Dec. 19, 1914. 33

Villa and Zapata together, with the former sitting in the Presidential chair. The photograph becomes a cultural icon used by future generations, and represents the zenith of Villa’s control and popularity.128

Challenging Villa’s myth

Between April of 1915 and July of 1920, Francisco Villa had little control in shaping a

positive image of himself. Villa was defeated at León and Celaya, lead an unsuccessful campaign

in Sonora, launched a raid on Columbus, New Mexico, and adopted guerrilla warfare to survive

in Chihuahua until he was able to negotiate a truce with the government. During this time, media

perceptions changed, and often reverted back to describing him as a bandit and cattle hustler.

The battles in the state of Guanajuato were some of the bloodiest encounters of the

revolution. Spectacular aerial fighting ensued to capture enemy trenches, resulting in the death of

hundreds.129 Unresolved for several days, Villa’s troops disrupted supply lines at Silao, but they

were unable to drive Obregón’s men from their trenches.130 During one of these battles, Obregón

was struck by a shell and lost his arm.131 Villa’s defeats at León resulted in a complete dispersal of his forces northward to Lagos de Moreno, and then gradually back to Chihuahua.

Villa’s forces evacuated to Torreón in late June after leaving a small contingency in

Zacatecas.132 Back in Chihuahua, Villa faced growing problems providing essential goods to its

inhabitants. With an almost worthless currency, business owners speculated with basic goods.133

128 Mraz, 234-238, Katz, 437. 129 “Villa Assaults Positions Held by Gen. Obregón South of Silao; Wins Fight,” El Paso Morning Times, May 23, 1915. 130 “Carothers Says Silao Taken; Carrancistas Deny its Loss,” El Paso Herald, Jun. 3, 1915. 131 “Obregón Loses Arm in Battle,” El Paso Herald, Jun. 10, 1915. 132 “Zacatecas no ha Sido Evacuada,” El Paso Morning Times, Jul. 18, 1915. 133 “Como Pasaron los Acontecimientos en Chihuahua,” El Paso Morning Times, Aug. 3, 1915. 34

El Paso Herald published a joke that Villa’s currency was the only currency in the world that wasn’t counterfeited, because it was so cheap that counterfeiters lost money on it.134

Heading to Ciudad Juárez, Villa meet with George Carothers, Raúl Madero, and Felipe

Ángeles, all recently returned from a commission in the United States.135 In late September, Raúl

Madero parted ways with Villa and crossed the border in exile. 136 Rumors also followed Felipe

Ángeles and his expected exile.137 With few remaining forces, Villa concentrated troops in Casas

Grandes, Chihuahua, and decided to start a new campaign in Sonora.138 In September, the United

States government parted ways with Villa by recognizing the government of Venustiano

Carranza. In an interview, Consul Andrés Garcia remarked that U.S. recognition signaled the

reestablishment of peace in Mexico and the end of Villa.139 Villa faced further problems when

arms shipments were held off while ammunition for Carranza was allowed to reach its

destination140. Notwithstanding, Villa crossed into Sonora through Bavispe with two thousand

men and prepared to attack the border town of Agua Prieta.141 During the journey, Rodolfo

Fierro lost his life when he tried to cross a flooded roadway and drowned.142 Further adding to

the problem of Villa’s campaign in Sonora was the consent of the U.S. War Department to allow

five thousand Carrancistas to cross at Eagle Pass and make their way to reinforce Plutarco Elías

Calles at the border town of Agua Prieta Sonora.143

134 No title, El Paso Herald, Oct. 1, 1915. 135 “General Villa Juaréz Visitor,” El Paso Morning Times, Aug. 6, 1915. 136 “General Raúl Madero Cruzo la Frontera,” El Paso Morning Times, Sep. 25, 1915. 137 “El General Felipe Ángeles es Fiel a Sus Compromisos,” El Paso Morning Times, Sep. 29, 1915. 138 “La Futura Campaña en Sonora y Sinaloa,” El Paso Morning Times, Sep 26, 1915. 139 “El Consul Garcia Predice el Asesinato del General Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, Oct. 21, 1915. 140 “Arms for Villa Held Up; Carranza Munitions Pass,” El Paso Herald, Oct. 16, 1915. 141 “Villa Forces are Drawing Close to Border Town; El Tigre Occupied,” El Paso Herald, Oct. 14, 1915. 142 “Fierro Died in Swollen Stream,” El Paso Herald, Oct. 18, 1915. 143 “Atravesaran Territorio Americano,” El Paso Morning Times, Oct. 26, 1915. 35

Villa was astonished when he found out about the reinforcements. Shortly before the attack, Villa stated he felt badly repaid for having protected U.S. interests in Mexico and when asked to pose for a photograph he smilingly refused, granting no more pictures to foreign journalists.144 After two days and nights of fighting, Villa was forced to retreat due to a lack of

water, food, and ammunition.145 In an editorial piece, El Paso Morning Times urged Francisco

Villa to lay down his arms in the name of honor through self-sacrifice.146 By December, the campaign in Sonora had failed, and small bands of forces disappeared back into Chihuahua.147

Returning to Chihuahua, Villa announced his intentions of abandoning Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juárez and commissioned Silvestre Terrazas to seek terms of surrender.148

Disbanding the División del Norte, Villa headed to the mountains and started a new guerilla

campaign. Thinking Villa’s days were numbered, Álvaro Obregón announced to the press that

Villa could hide in the mountains like a bandit, but never convince anyone to follow him

again.149

In January one of Villa’s subalterns, General Pablo López, stopped a train and

intentionally killed 19 Americans destined for mine in Santa Isabel, Chihuahua. This incident

raised questions regarding the assurances offered by Carranza and Obregón that Chihuahua was

safe.150 Reports of Villa’s mobilization near the border started in early March, but no one knew

why he was in northern Chihuahua. The night before the attack on Columbus, New Mexico,

reports from the thirteenth cavalry stationed in New Mexico pinpoint Villa’s forces at Palomas

144 “Villa is Angry, May Fight U.S.,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 1, 1915. 145 “Las Tropas Villistas Cansadas se Retiraron de Agua Prieta Quizá con Intención de Volver,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 4, 1915. 146 “Villa, el Vencido,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 12, 1915. 147 “Regresa a Chihuahua,” El Paso Morning Times, Dec. 1915. 148 Terrazas, 200. 149 “Gen. Villa is no Longer a Factor in Mexico, Cannot Come Back as is ‘A Bandit at Bay’,” El Paso Herald, Dec. 31, 1915. 150 “El Paso is City of Funerals,” El Paso Herald, Jan. 14, 1916. 36

Land and Cattle Company Ranch, now present day Palomas151. With a force calculated at 500

men, Pablo Lopez and Candelario Cervantes raided Columbus under the cover of darkness on

March 9, 1916.152

The next day, the press labeled Villa an bandit that ordered all gringoes be killed.153 A resolution by Woodrow Wilson to send a Punitive Expedition headed by General John J.

Pershing into Mexico meet no opposition in congress. In Mexico, Venustiano Carranza denounced Villa’s intention to attack Columbus as a way to provoke U.S. intervention.154 With orders to capture and disband Francisco Villa and his men, the U.S. provided ammunition to

Carranza’s forces operating in Chihuahua.155 Pershing crossed the border with 4,000 soldiers and

established his base of operations at Colonia Dublan.156 The Columbus incidence prompted a

British magazine to poke fun at President Wilson for having acted on false estimates in

supporting the bandit Villa over the more competent Victoriano Huerta years earlier.157 During

the following weeks, newspapers inconsistently placed Villa all over Chihuahua.158 One source,

allegedly reported Villa was strolling the streets of Los Angeles, California.159

In an effort to locate Villa, twenty Apache Indians that participated in tracking down

Geronimo were sent to the U.S. military camp.160 With no Villa in sight, a breakthrough was

achieved when Pablo López was captured. Before his execution, López confirmed to the

151 “Villa Reaches Palomas Ranch,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 8, 1916. 152 “U.S. Plans to Clean Out Bandits,” El Paso Herald, Mar. 9, 1916. 153 “U.S. Troops, Outnumbered, Return to Border,” The Atlanta Constitution, Mar., 10, 1916. 154 “To Ask U.S. for Villa,” The Washington Post, Mar., 13, 1916. 155 “Ammunition Delivered to Carranza army,” The Los Angeles Times, Mar. 17, 1916. 156 “First Complete Story of Chase After Villa,” The Atlanta Constitution, Mar. 24, 1916. 157 “Time’s Whirligig in Mexico,” New Statesman, Vol., 6 Issue 156, Mar. 18, 1916, Statesman and National Publishing, 562-564. 158 “Villa at Bay in the Hills,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Mar. 21, 1916. 159 “Villa se Halla en Los Ángeles, Cal.”, El Paso Morning Times, Apr. 23., 1916. 160 “Apache Scouts, After War Dance, Start Today on Trail for Villa,” The Atlanta Constitution, Apr. 7, 1916. 37

Associated Press the intent to provoke a U.S. intervention. He also declared that Villa was not dead but rather resting at some point in the sierra waiting for the right time to come back.161 With

little to report, Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly released a magazine cover with a bull’s-eye and Villa

head in the middle.162 Presenting Villa as a ruthless bandit leader, a series of publications by Luis

Terrazas Jr. appeared in the U.S. and recounted his captivity in Chihuahua years earlier.163

Stories like this highlighted the negative aspects of Villa’s legend.

Villa spent most of the summer in hiding because of a leg injury, but resurfaced in

September when his forces surprised the garrison at Chihuahua City.164 An anonymous report

published in El Paso vilified Villa for slicing the ears of prisoners, murdering women and

children, and going to lengths of barbarity to try and show how bad he was.165 Villa reoccupied

Chihuahua City again in December and reassured people his revolutionaries were not bandits.166

Rested and replenished, Villa abandoned the city and continued to Torreón.167 El Paso

newspapers satirize the Punitive Expedition by publishing cartoons that commented on Villa’s

freedom of movement.168 Fearing the loss of Chihuahua, Álvaro Obregón sent General Francisco

Murguía to hunt down Villa.169

Pershing declared the Punitive Expedition a success and ordered the movement of troops

out of Mexico in January of 1917.170 In retrospect, both the expedition and the Carranza

161 “Pablo López Relata Toda una Historia de su Fugaz Carrera al Lado de su Maestro F. Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, May 18, 1916. 162 Leslie’s Illustated Weekly Newspaper CXXII No. 3167 (New York, NY), May 18, 1916. 163 “The Most Remarkable Revelations Yet Made of the Barbarous Anarchy in Bandit-Ruled Mexico,” The Washington Post, Jun. 4, 1916. 164 “Gen. Villa Attacks City of Chihuahua,” The Washington Post, Sep. 17, 1916. 165 “Villa’a Display of Barbarity,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 4, 1916. 166 “’Para los Mexicanos,’ Dice Francisco Villa,” El Paso Morning Times, Dec. 10, 1916. 167 “Chihuahua City is Held by Murguia,” El Paso Herald, Dec. 4, 1916. 168 “El ‘Big Stick’ de Woodrow Wilson,” El Paso Morning Times, Dec. 4, 1916 & “Villa Comes and Goes as He Pleases; Fortunately He Goes After He Comes,” El Paso Herald, Dec. 5, 1916. 169 “Assault is Made From South,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 23, 1916. 170 Stiness, Henry R.W., editor. Battery A on the Mexican Border, (Providence, R.I.: E.S. Jones Sons, 1916), 2. 38 government failed to curtail the influence of Villa in Chihuahua. The attack on Columbus only succeeded in elevating the image of Villa internationally, even if public perceptions of him shifted towards that of a cattle thief and wholesale assassin. Among his followers, Villa remained an idol because he successfully instigated the raid and avoided capture. This symbol of resistance to the United States is popularized in collective memory and appears in representations of popular culture in later decades.

Villa maintained a low profile during the first half of 1917, operating across Chihuahua and northern Durango. Unaware of his whereabouts, newspapers speculated he was in Japan,171

or visiting his family in San Antonio, Texas.172 In reality, what occurred during the summer of

1917 was that Villa elaborated a plan to capture Venustiano Carranza in Mexico City and take

him to Zapata in Morelos. Disguised as Carranzista forces, they moved at night and advanced

through Durango, Jalisco, and Aguascalientes. The expedition ultimately failed, and Villa

provided each soldier 300 pesos and ordered their return back to Chihuahua.173 Once back, Villa

confronted General Francisco Murguía and captured Ojinaga. Granting interviews with U.S.

correspondents, José Maria Jaurrieta confirmed the expedition into central Mexico.174 In one of

the few declarations to the Associated Press during this time, Villa declared Carranza a traitor

and despot.175

171 “Villa on Way to Japan,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb. 18, 1917 & “Outlaw Escapes: Villa on Way to Japan,” The Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18, 1917. 172 “Villa Visits Relatives in San Antonio, is Report,” El Paso Herald, Mar. 12, 1917. 173 José Maria Jaurrieta, Con Villa (1916-1920), Memorias de Campaña (México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para las Cultura y las Artes, 2009), 107-120. 174 “Villistas Moving Toward Juaréz; Bandits in Ojinaga Request U.S. for Reopening of the Border Port,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 16. 1917. 175 “Villa Issues Call for United Mexico and Again Challenges Murguia to Fight Duel,” The New York Times, Nov. 18, 1917. 39

In 1918, Villa suffered a number of defeats and decided to divide his troops across

Chihuahua.176 Continuing with guerrilla warfare, Villa’s activities were limited by the outbreak

of the Spanish influenza in Mexico. Towards the end of the year, he captured Villa Ahumada.177

Meanwhile, Jaurrieta waited in El Paso to welcome Felipe Ángeles back to Mexico.178

Unsuccessful in removing Villa from Chihuahua, General Francisco Murguía was replaced by

General Jesus Agustín Castro in February of 1919.179 In reference to Ángeles, a story in El Paso

Herald noted he shaved daily and wore clean linen while carrying a toilet kit on an extra pack

mule. Villa on the other hand, wore a flannel shirt with other second-hand suits and hardly ever

shaved.180 In essence, the article captured the reality that waging a guerrilla war was quite

different to managing the División del Norte.

During the second half of 1919, Villa lost two of his most important strategists. In

September, Martin López, one of his youngest generals suffered a bullet wound after evacuating a failed attack on Durango.181 His death not only affected Villa personally, but lead to a decline

in moral and desertions among his troops. One deserter, Félix Salas became instrumental in the

capture and execution of Felipe Ángeles in November.182 After the defeat at Durango, Ángeles

decided to part ways and was denounced by Salas who turned him in to a local authority183.

During his trial, Ángeles compared Francisco Villa with Jean Valjean of Victor Hugo’s Les

Misérables, and stated that under other circumstances he would have been a good man.184

176 “Villa is Lost to Pursuers,” El Paso Herald, Jun. 1, 1918. 177 “Says Villa Plan to Take Border City Was Lost,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 28, 1918. 178 Jaurrieta, 159, “Ángeles at San Lorenzo,” El Paso Herald, Dec. 30. 1918. 179 “Villa Unfeared,” El Paso Herald Feb. 11, 1919. 180 “Ángeles and Villa Contrast.” El Paso Herald, Jun. 10, 1919. 181 “Details of Villa-Castro Fight Sought by Mexicans,” El Paso Herald, Sep., 4, 1919. 182 Jaurrieta, 218-219. 183 Ibid., 220, “Gen. Felipe Ángeles is Captured Near Parral by Federal force,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 20, 1919. 184 “Pancho Villa to Begging Reprisals for Execution of Gen. Angeles,” El Paso Herald, Nov. 27, 1919. 40

Able to avoid capture and definitive defeat, Villa paid close attention when Álvaro

Obregón and his followers overthrew Venustiano Carranza in 1920.185 Villa sent representatives

to meet with provisional President Adolfo de la Huerta and declared an armistice with the

revolutionary forces of Sonora.186 Adolfo de la Huerta had helped Villa secure funding in 1913

when José Maria Maytorena was exiled in Tucson, Arizona. During negotiations, Villa allowed

himself to be photographed by the press for the first time since 1915. On July 28, 1920,

newspapers acclaimed Villa’s surrender after an all-night conference with General Eugenio

Martínez.187 In return for laying down his arms, Villa was granted a year’s pay for his followers

and a hacienda in northern Durango. People in opposition denounced Villa as a notorious rebel

outlaw, super-bandit, and murderer rewarded for his banditry.188

Retirement in Canutillo, Durango

Villa organized life around a communal structure of hard work and education at

Canutillo. In November, he received tractors, motor trucks and other modern farm machinery

together with technicians from the U.S. that taught him how to operate the equipment.189 In six

months, Canutillo was described as one of the most productive haciendas in northern Mexico,

with 50,000 bushels of wheat ready for market.190 Villa promised President Álvaro Obregón to

avoid politics altogether, but newspapers speculated at the idea that he could become governor of

Durango.191 Villa maintained regular correspondence with Álvaro Obregón and hardly granted

185 “Sonora Troops Win First Border Fight Against Carranza,” The New York Times, Apr.16, 1920. 186 “Armistice by Villa Until His Status is Decided by Rebels,” The Washington Post, May 9, 1920. 187 “Villa Surrenders Unconditionally,” El Paso Herald, Jul 28, 1920. 188 “Francisco Villa Surrendered,” Los Angeles Times, Jul 29, 1920, “Villa’s Hideous Crimes are Brought to Light,” New York Times, Jun 24, 1920, “Rewarded for His Banditry,” Los Angeles Times, Aug 8, 1920. 189 “Villa Has Fun on Big Ranch,” The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 25, 1920. 190 “Villa Teaching Farming,” The New York Times, Jun 19, 1921. 191 “Villa Causes Great Worry,” The Los Angeles Times, Jun. 30, 1922. 41 interviews to the press. Usually occupied with things to do at Canutillo, and regular trips to nearby Parral, Chihuahua, Villa remained hard at work between 1920 and 1923.

On Friday morning July 20, 1923 Francisco Villa was ending a visit to Parral when a handful of assassins opened fire and put an end to the lives of Villa and his men. News quickly spread all over Mexico and internationally, with newspapers speculating on the reasons for assassination.192 In Mexico, El Universal Gráfico prided itself in publishing the first photographs of the slain revolutionary in his vehicle. After the assassination, the bodies were removed from the vehicle and Villa’s body was placed at Hotel Hidalgo where a wake took place. The following morning, the body was taken to the cemetery.193 In the United States,

newspapers provided detail information about the assassination. Calling him a ruthless bandit to

foes, but patriot to peons, the New York Times conjectured if the assassination was a family’s

revenge, or a political plot due to upcoming elections in Mexico.194 The Los Angeles Times

highlighted the picturesque beginning of Villa’s career as the inspiration of native songs and

ballads sung by peons where fantastic stories endow him with supernatural powers.195 Other

newspapers referred to him as a picturesque bandit, or Robin Hood of Mexico.196

From Mexico, journalist William L. Stidger shared his views and revealed how common

people enshrined Villa as a sort of Robin Hood hero, refusing to believe that he was dead. Many

asserted the assassination had political undertones, since Villa favored Adolfo de la Huerta over

Plutarco Elías Calles for President in 1924. When Stidger asked the President about the

192 Telegrams were sent to all State Government. Plutarco Elías Calles responded in the evening. July 20, 1923. AGN, Mexico D.F., Galería 1, Presidentes, Fondo Gobernación, Dirección General de Gobierno, caja 18, ex. 3. 193 “Villa fue Sepultado en Parral,” El Universal Gráfico (Mexico, D.F.), Jul. 23, 1923. 194 “Swore Vengeance for Four Herreras,” The New York Times, Jul. 21, 1923. “Victim of political plot?” The New York Times, Jul. 21, 1923. 195 “Angelo Gives Villa’s Story History,” Los Angeles Times, Jul., 21, 1923. 196 “Seek Villa’s Murderers in Mexico Today,” The Orange Daily Leader (Orange, T.X.), Jul. 22, 1923. “Body of Villa Lies in State,” The Atlanta Constitution, Jul. 22, 1923. 42 assassination, Obregón seemed undisturbed.197 In cross-referencing various U.S. sources, the sentiment over the assassination is best summarized in an article published in the New York

Times. Remembering the bandit stigma that accompanied Villa, it goes on to mention he was an

example of talents going to waste for lack of common schooling, reflecting that in an enlightened

Mexico, he might have been a useful servant of the state.198

It is clear that the process of Villa’s myth starts in 1910. One of the first revolutionaries to rise up against Porfirio Díaz, there is no evidence pointing to a widespread recognition of him as a social bandit. Rather, his various employments allowed him to create social networks through Chihuahua that helped him during the revolution. This is exemplified by where he started recruiting men in 1910: San Ándres, Chihuahua. It is only as the revolution progressed that Villa received more attention from the media leading up to the attack at Ciudad Juárez in

May of 1911. Understanding the power of media, Villa used this to his advantage when he became a small business owner and eventually combated Pascual Orozco in 1912. With the assassination of Madero in 1913, Villa is one of the few revolutionaries from 1910 that can legitimately claim loyalty to the fallen president. Yet, this cannot be the sole reason why

Francisco Villa became leader of the División del Norte. It was his charisma, in addition to his wandering years in both Durango and Chihuahua while mixing legitimate jobs with banditry, which allowed him to create social networks that when the time came, proved key to his survival and success. In looking at the initial composition of the División del Norte, each brigade was comprised of regional authorities that claimed loyalty within their followers. The crucial point of understanding why Villa became their leader rests in fact that he probably established more connections than any one particular local revolutionary chief at the moment of his election. This

197 “An Interview with President Álvaro Obregón,” Outlook (New York, NY), 134:14, Aug. 22, 1923 198 “Francisco Villa,” The New York Times, Jul. 23, 1923. 43 idea is sustained when the forces of Chihuahua moved into Durango and ratified Villa as their leader over other such possibilities as Tomás Urbina or Manuel Chao.

The capture of Torreón and subsequent surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez in 1913, both legitimize Villa’s capacity as leader and granted him international notoriety. With the remarkable seizure of Ciudad Juárez, more newspaper correspondents and movie producers were sent immediately to follow his exploits. During 1914, and until the spring of 1915, Villa maintained a strong positive image in U.S. newspapers. In Mexico, media perceptions of Villa depended on the newspapers political affiliation. For example, after the break, agents of Venustiano Carranza persisted in their exhortations to turn people against Villa in Chihuahua.199 It was only after his

defeats to Álvaro Obregón and his failed campaign in Sonora during 1915 that Villa’s media-

coverage began to shift away from praising him as a savior. Carranza’s faction emphasized his

bandit past based on the Columbus raid and subsequent Punitive Expedition in 1916. Villa

remained in the international stoplight, but a shift in perception now branded him a bandit. The

failure of the Punitive Expedition allotted Villa legitimacy to claim he was able to outwit the

Americans.

Villa managed to fight off and survive until Carranza’s assassination in 1920. The

negotiation with intern President Adolfo de la Huerta granted Villa amnesty and the means to

sustain himself. In August of 1920, one news outlet saw Villa as a legend surrounded by wonder,

magnified with the spectacle of his assassination in July of 1923.200 No longer able to control his destiny, it was now up to popular culture and collective memory to keep the myth alive.

199 “Trabajo Carrancista,” El Paso Morning Times, Nov. 11, 1915. 200 “Poncho Villa Does the Impossible,” Outlook (New York, NY), Aug. 11, 1920. [Poncho is an error of the newspaper] 44

CHAPTER II Pancho Villa, Folk Music Hero

¡Adiós, General Villa, gran héroe entre los héroes, El bardo que te quiso no te olvida jamás, Descansa entre los muertos, el mundo de otros seres, Y si hay Gloria, que goces por siempre eterna paz!

Goodbye General Villa, great hero among heroes, The poet that liked you will never forget you Rest among the dead, in the world of other beings, And if there is glory, I hope that you always enjoy eternal peace! 201

Journalist John Reed shared a glimpse into the life of Villa during the campaign in 1914.

Frequently resting outside his boxcar, Villa was accompanied by soldiers, exchanging stories and jokes. When it came time to move the trains, Villa helped load the boxcars and when thirsty asked for someone’s water flask.202 Men gathered alongside bonfires in the cold nights of the

Chihuahuan desert to sing songs and corridos they knew or made up.203 These represented a

communal understanding of the events combatants either witnessed or heard about from other

soldiers.

Corridos help listeners understand the identities and collective memories of particular

groups. Music enhances cultural identity by reinforcing shared beliefs experienced through singing, listening, or dancing within groups.204 Music forms part of the traditions prevalent in

culture. Corridos capture the spirit of Mexico because these songs enhance cultural identity.205

201 Samuel M. Lozano, “Verdaderos Detalles del Asesinato del Gral. Francisco Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 198. 202 John Reed, México Insurgente (México, D.F.: Editorial Época, S.A. de C.V., 1997), 106. 203 Ibid., 37, 61. 204 Martha I. Chew Sanchez, Corridos in Migrant México (Albuquerque, NM: University of New México Press, 2006), 18. 205 C. Herrera Frimont, Los Corridos de la Revolución (México, D.F.: Secretaria de Educación Publica, 1946), 5. 45

Music forges cultural memories and enhances the myth of the revolutionary who has received the most attention from contemporaries, Francisco Villa.

Sung during the daily lives of combatants and later preserved for future generations in print, corridos became a reflection of people’s fears, convictions, and attitudes towards the revolution and its leaders. For those veterans who survived the gruesome years of fighting, corridos served to reinforce their collective memory of the División del Norte, and to remember friends, family, or exploits. In short, corridos of Villa, and Villistas looked at through the lenses of culture and music are a reflection of both the revolutionaries and the songs’ composers.

Origins of El Corrido

Corridos narrate stories, either truth or fiction, describing human experiences and

emotions including love, war, nostalgia, homesickness, humor, disasters, heroes, miracles,

assassinations, and social or political events. European origins are traced to the Castilian

romantic ballads of the Spanish Reconquista. Bernal Díaz del Castillo recorded one of the

earliest ballads of the conquest in 1521.206 From the pyramids at Tacuba, Hernán Cortes and his

followers could see Tenochtitlan and started signing a romance about their woes when a captain

reminded the others it was only a momentary setback.207 In prehispanic society there also existed

a rich poetic and musical culture, exemplified by Nezahualcóyotl and other rulers of Mexico’s

central valley. In New Spain, missionaries indoctrinated natives along the northern frontier

206 Antonio Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo I (México D.F.: Editorial Porrua, Num. 675, 1997), 4. 207 Bernal Díaz del Castillo, “Chapter CXLV,” in La Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España – Tomo II (México, D.F.: Editores Mexicanos Unidos S.A., 1997), 23. 46 through music.208 During the colonial period, musicians developed their own rhythmic styles of

corridos that continued to evolve throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century.

The traditions of corridos are deeply rooted in Durango.209 In local plazas and on special

occasions, musicians traveled across villages playing songs learned from local traditions or ones

printed on papel china that could be purchased cheaply.210 Antonio Vanegas Arroyo and José

Guadalupe Posada starting in the late nineteenth century made these papel china imprints accessible and widespread among the popular classes with themes ranging from prayers, songs, stories, Calaveras, or theatrical plays, to the latest news.211 With the death of Posada in 1913 and

Arroyo in 1917, a new generation of printers became popular: Juan Ortega, Carlos M. Martínez,

Leopoldo Bravo, Eduardo Guerrero, Jorge Peña, and Samuel Lozano.212

Oral traditions associated with corridos described outlaws differently when compared to

other literary texts during the administration of Porfirio Díaz, because in this setting, bandits

became emblematic figures of social inconformity and rural insubordination.213 In the Corrido de

Heraclio Bernal, for example; the protagonist’s exploits included stealing silver bars and

fighting against the government were memorialized.214 Born in San Ignacio, Sinaloa, or Santiago

Papasquiaro, Durango, Bernal operated in the Sierra Madre, which crosses both states.

Considered a social bandit by the locals, Bernal robbed and distributed goods among miners and inhabitants, but also launched a rebellion against the federal government until he was captured

208 Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo and Antonio Rubial Garcia, “Los Pueblos, los Conventos y la Liturgia,” in Historia de la Vida Coditiana en México – Tomo I, (México, D.F.: El Colegio de México/Fondo de Cultura Econoica, 2004), 382. 209 Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo I, 17. 210 Ibid., 20. 211 Mario Kuri-Aldana and Vicente Mendoza Martinez et. all., Canciónero Popular Mexicano (México, D.F.: CONACULTA, 2001), 9. 212 Herrera Frimont, 9. 213 Max Parra, “Pancho Villa y el Corrido de la Revolución,” Carvalle, no. 88, 2007. Chanter le Bandit. Ballades et Complaintes de’Amerique Latine, 141. 214 “Corrido de Heraclio Bernal,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo I, 203. 47 and executed in January of 1888. The Corrido de Heraclio Bernal exists in at least fifteen different versions found in Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, and Chihuahua.

Heraclio Bernal and others in the mountainous region, especially Durango, set a precedent or acknowledged the social acceptability of banditry. Following the lead of Bernal,

Ignacio Parra was another bandit in the same general area; he was renowned for his bravery and eventual demise during a shootout with government forces led by Octaviano Meraz in 1898.215 It had been Parra who took in Villa and taught him to elude local authorities. For this reason Villa’s corridos are part of his tradition.216

Writing about corridos, John Reed mentioned an abundant existence of legends and stories that celebrated Villa’s great deeds, recalling one in particular about Claro Reza’s assassination in 1910.217 Unfortunately, Reed did not write down any of them in his book

Insurgent Mexico. If such a corrido existed, it was passed along by word of mouth, since local

Chihuahuan newspapers did not link Villa to the incident.

No corridos referring to Villa can be identified in print prior to 1910. This reinforces the

argument that Villa did not have a renowned bandit past such as Heraclio Bernal or Ignacio

Parra. One of the earliest mentions of Villa in corridos found in print is Eduardo Guerrero’s La

Toma de Ciudad Juárez from 1911. In this corrido, Villa is mentioned alongside Pascual Orozco and Francisco Madero as equal figures that decided to overtake the border community.218 In

another version by Eduardo Guerrero and Samuel M. Lozano, called Canto a Madero, Villa’s

name is replaced by José de la Luz Blanco’s. Others corridos such as La Renuncia de Porfirio y

215 Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo I, 225. 216 Max Parra, “Pancho Villa y el corrido de la revolución,” 143. 217 Reed, 88-89. 218 Eduardo A. Guerrero, “La Toma de C. Juárez,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 24-25. 48 la Caida de sus Mandones mention Villa briefly but do not provide details.219 Villa’s name

began to appear again in corridos months after his returned to Mexico in 1913 to avenge the

assassination of Francisco Madero and José Maria Pino Suárez.

Corridos Villistas

While numerous corridos mention Villa, none is exclusively dedicated to him prior to

1913. Tracking this proves difficult because corridos are seldom dated, and on occasion, when a

particular town was attacked more than once, verses describing one assault were recycled into

other songs. A case in point is the undated La Sublevación de Pascual Orozco, written by

Eduardo Guerrero. This song mentioned Villa and his near-death experience in front of a firing

squad ordered by Victoriano Huerta in 1912. The story recalled how Madero intervened to save

Villa. The corrido also evoked Villa’s escape from Santiago Prison in Mexico City to seek refuge

in the United States. Although the corrido narrated the treason of Orozco, the song evidently was

composed later because in the last verse the author explained it took three years for Orozco to

receive punishment after his treachery.220 This puts the date of publication at 1915, when a posse

of Texas lawmen along the border lynched Orozco.

The first corrido dedicated to the División del Norte came after the successful capture of

Torreón in September of 1913. In Tragedia Compuesta a la Revolución Maderista y a Torreón,

the anonymous author congratulated and recognized Villa as the supreme leader. Biblical

references compared revolutionary Calixto Contreras to archangel Gabriel, Venustiano Carranza

to archangel Michael, Aureliano Blanquet to Saint Augustine, and Victoriano Huerta to Lucifer.

219 Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 37. 220 Eduardo A. Guerrero, “La Sublevación de Pascual Orozco,” in César Macazaga Ordoño, Corridos de la Revolucion Mexicana (México, D.F.: Editorial Inovacion S.A., 1985). 49

Remarkably, Villa is not compared to anyone and instead, verses glorified the former followers of Madero constituted in the División del Norte. These details indicate that the song’s creation likely came from soon after the battle took place, because if we follow the reasoning that Villa was not famous yet, this would explain the lesser attention paid to him by the songwriters. In examining other corridos about the events at Torreón, authors combined events from one attack with another. In this particular corrido, the lyrics contain information from an earlier failed attempt to take the city in July, before the integration of revolutionary forces from Chihuahua,

Durango, and Coahuila took place. This explains why some corridos contained mixed information referring to particular dates or events.221

Moving quickly against Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City in late 1913, the División del

Norte had almost complete control of the state after the federal defeat at Tierra Blanca. La

Traición de Mercado recounted how the remaining federal forces in Chihuahua hastily evacuated

towards Ojinaga on the orders of Salvador Mercado. The march towards the border community

included many of Chihuahua’s wealthy who feared reprisals from Villa and decided to evacuate

instead of confronting the revolutionaries. The corrido mocked Mercado for his behavior and

subsequent surrender to U.S. forces across at Presidio, Texas, in the cold weather of January.222

With Chihuahua firmly under the control of the División del Norte, Villa focused his attention on recapturing Torreón. Part of the Laguna region, Torreón, Coahuila, is across the

Nazas River from Ciudad Lerdo and Gómez Palacio, both located in Durango. The region’s importance as a railroad and economic hub was well understood by Victoriano Huerta, who

ordered José Refugio Velasco with its defense. Once Torreón fell into revolutionary hands,

221 “Tragedia Compuesta a la Revolución Maderista y a Torréon,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 117-119. 222 “La Traición de Mercado,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 124-125. 50 supplies and communication were established eastward to Saltillo, with Coahuila’s rich coal mines, and Monterrey, Nuevo León, a major industrial center.

Corrido de la Decena de Torreón, La Salida de los Gachupines de la Ciudad de Torreón,

La Toma de Torreón, segunda parte, Nueva Toma de Torreón convocada con la de San Pedro, and Honorable Tragedia223 all narrated the various stages of the revolutionaries’ efforts to obtain

victory. Still referring to the División del Norte as Maderistas, these corridos contained more

references to Villa in particular. His courage is accentuated because as he charged in front of his

forces, taking the toughest position at La Pila, reminding his men about Ojinaga to encourage

them.224 One corrido captured the federal soldiers’ fears of facing Villa, because he promised to

liberate the poor, and avenge the deaths of their fallen revolutionaries.225

In a groundbreaking decision days after the fall of Torreón, Villa decided to expel the

Spanish inhabitants for supporting Huerta and the federal troops. In La Salida de los Gachupines

de la Ciudad de Torreón, an anonymous author pointed out that wealthy Spanish supported them

with money and men in the defense of the city, and once Villa captured it, they begged to be

allowed to remain in their homes. His response to the Spanish inhabitants was that they either

leave on a special train or be executed, an act the corrido reminded the audience that Villa did

not wish to follow do.226 Towards the end of the song, a reprisal was made about not fearing a

foreign intervention, directly referencing the U.S. occupation of Veracruz.

John Reed remarked that one night before the attack on Torreón, while stationed with

Tomás Urbina’s troops at La Cadena, a few men gathered around the fireplace and started

223 Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 138-147. 224 “La Toma de Torreón, Segunda Parte,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 142. 225 J.P. Maciel, “Honorable Tragedia,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo I, 147. 226 “La Salida de los Gachupines de la Ciudad de Torreón,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 139-141. 51 singing La Canción de la mañana de Francisco Villa. Each man sung one verse at a time, recounting dramatic actions of the great general; this is one of the earliest corridos on record dedicated exclusively to Villa. It started off by presenting a strong Villa that overpowered the federal troops. It followed with a warning for the colorados, that Villa and his men were going to teach them a lesson for their pretentiousness. In another verse, the anonymous author explains that ambition created ruin and that justice would prevail because Villa had arrived to punish the wealthy of Torreón. A threat to the proud Spanish could be found towards the end of song: Villa would enter Torreón because he could.227

In this corrido, Villa is the central figure, portrayed as a courageous leader capable of

subduing the federals and colorados. One verse reflects on how ambition created ruin, directly

referring to Pascual Orozco and his followers known as colorados. As leader of troops in 1910,

Orozco was seduced by the oligarchy of Chihuahua and turned on president Francisco I. Madero

in March of 1912. Orozco’s soldiers presented a particular threat to Villa because they came

from the same regions of Chihuahua and northern Durango. Villa considered the colorados to be

traitors for betraying Madero, and executed them more often than federal soldiers forced into

service.

In Torreón, in May of 1914, correspondent Gregory Mason wrote down a spontaneous

corrido he heard from a half-blind man that served with Villa and captured the popular sentiment

of the time:

“These are the men of Francisco Villa, Who drive before them the Colorados As the straw that their horses stamp and scatter In a desert march on a dusty morning These men will never flinch in battle, Like raven they’ll tear out the eyes of Huerta Let the white-faced gringo pigs beware

227 Reed, 61-62. 52

Lest they’re disemboweled by the men of Villa”228

This corrido emphasizes that the Villistas were brave and eager to defeat their enemies, Pascual

Orozco and Victoriano Huerta. The United States was also included because of their occupation

of Veracruz.

After the capture of Torreón, the División del Norte focused on a new objective:

Zacatecas. The last federal stronghold in the north, Zacatecas was well garrisoned with

remaining forces from Torreón, colorados, and new recruits sent from other parts of Mexico.

Zacatecas’s siege by revolutionary forces was captured in a series of corridos pertaining to

various stages of the battles. Venustiano Carranza initially sent Pánfilo Natera and a small

contingent to undertake the assault. In Corrido del Ataque a Zacatecas,229 an anonymous author

explained that after a seven-day siege the federal troops and artillery sustained their positions.

Natera requested the support of the entire División del Norte after understanding the severity of

the situation.

The Corrido de la Toma de Zacatecas explained how the División del Norte traveled

from Torreón to reinforce Natera. Villa quickly positioned men and artillery. Once the battle got

underway, various verses explained the carnage and the number of wounded soldiers saved by

brave juanas, who also prayed for those already dead on the battlefield. The bloody effort to take

the high ground at La Bufa was explained in various verses to celebrate the revolutionary

success. As the corrido elaborated, it took four hours for the brigades of Generals Raúl Madero,

Tomás Urbina, and Toribio Ortega to fight their up the cliffs defended by the federal forces.

With each stronghold giving way to revolutionaries, one verse in particular explained

how the federal defenders gave the order to blow up their gunpowder supply located downtown,

228 “The Mexican of the Hour,” The Outlook (New York, NY), June 6, 1914. 229 “Ataque a Zacatecas,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 159-160. 53 damaging important colonial buildings and causing heavy civilian losses. The corrido ended by telling how high-ranking federals tried to flee, but met their demise at nearby Guadalupe,

Zacatecas. Regular troops were granted freedom, clothing, and money because Villa recognized many were either forced into service, or tricked into thinking they were fighting troops from the

United States. In the aftermath of the battle, one verse explained how the number of bodies on the streets caused people to stumble.230 The earliest version of Las Mañanitas de la toma de

Zacatecas was authored by Francisco Torres Rosales, who used the only printing press to survive the fighting to print 500 song sheets that by early July reached musicians in Torreón. Sostenes

Rocha, José Ortega, and Eduardo Guerrero also authored other versions of the events at

Zacatecas.231

With the success of the revolutionaries and the exile of Victoriano Huerta, a new phase

began. Before the battle for Zacatecas, a rupture occurred between Venustiano Carranza and

Francisco Villa. Without a common enemy, a new conflict emerged among factions. Carranza,

supported by Álvaro Obregón, occupied Mexico City in August of 1914 only to evacuate and

head to Veracruz. This set the stage for the occupation by Emiliano Zapata and Villa. An

anonymous author recorded the peaceful entrance of Zapata's forces into Mexico City in late

November of 1914. Curious spectators, initially frightened, cheered the Zapatistas as liberators because of the orderly entrance. In the final verse, the author remarked that the union of Villa,

Zapata, and Felipe Ángeles would bring happiness and peace.232

230 Arturo Almanza, “Corrido de la Toma de Zacatecas,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 161-164. It is in the last verse the author explains that he is a Dorado and not a pelón (federal soldier), ending with ¡Que Viva Francisco Villa! - ¡Viva la Revolución! 231 Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 166. 232 “Corrido de la Entrada de los Generales Zapata, Villa y Ángeles a la Capital de México,” in Antonio Avitia Hernanez. Corridos de la Capital (México D.F.: Consejo Naciónal para la Cultura y las Artes, 2000), 93. 54

In another corrido, Vanegas Arroyo's print shop reminisced on the entrance of Villa and

Zapata's forces in December, who met each other for the first time in Xochimilco. Another verse accentuated the orderly entrance of Villa and his northern soldiers. A well-disciplined army was imperative for the inhabitants of Mexico City because over the years, newspapers created false perceptions that any invading campesino army would ravage the capital. This fear was particularly felt towards the troops of Zapata since more negative press coverage existed about the Ejército Libertador del Sur. The journalists often compared Zapata with Attila the Hun. The corrido described the beautiful decorations at the National Palace and ended with the hope that the entrance of Villa and Zapata would bring an end to an era of tyrants and fratricidal war.233

Among revolutionary forces, the convention at Aguascalientes represented a unique opportunity for dialogue to carry forth reforms. In La Convención de Aguascalientes, Eduardo

Guerrero detailed these challenges by explaining how the assembly was organized among various factions. While Villa and Zapata supported Eulalio Gutiérrez, Carranza did not attend and instead evacuated towards Veracruz. Written after the spring of 1915, several verses described Villa’s defeats in Celaya and retreat towards Chihuahua. This corrido also recalled

Carranza’s aversion to Villa following the victory at Zacatecas.234

Gerardo Murillo, also known as “Dr. Atl,” became one of the architects in charge of discrediting Carranza’s enemies. One corrido that built on the hostility between Carranza and

Villa is El Ataque Villista a Matamoros,235 revealing the failure to take this border city, and

Mañanitas de la División del Norte. The latter charged that the Villistas from Jalisco as allies of

233 “Entrada Triunfal de las Fuerzas Revoluciónarias a la Capital de México el 6 de Diciembre de 1914,” in Antonio Avitia Hernanez. Corridos de la Capital, 93-96. 234 Eduardo Guerrero, ‘La Convención de Aguascalientes,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 180-181. 235 Salazar, “El Ataque Villista a Matamoros,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 197. 55 the wealthy and church officials. It also focused on the Villistas’ defeat by Manuel M. Diéguez, and condemned Villa in particular for his bandit past and his cowardly lieutenants.236 About the

defeat of the División del Norte in 1915, numerous corridos exist that detailed the events.

Defensa de Celaya y Triunfo de Álvaro Obregón clearly favors Carranza while addressing Villa as Doroteo and calling him despicable. The anonymous author glorified the triumph and described the defeated as reactionary foes fighting without a cause in Celaya. Of particular

notoriety is a verse where a young bugle boy was able to hold-off a significant advance until

reinforcements occupied the position and pushed back.237 This story undermined the bravery and

masculinity of Villa’s forces measured against the courage and success of the ten-year-old boy.

Another corrido that challenged Villa’s bravery and described the battles in favor of

Carranza is Los Combates de Celaya. In one verse, Villa was taunted for escaping like a mouse

by his tail. The corrido balanced the portrayal of the battle by commending Villa’s request to

have the battle outside Celaya.238

An alternative version of Los Combates de Celaya told of Villa’s troop concentration at

Irapuato and Salamanca, and the initial offensive. The corrido recalled acts of bravery and the

great loss of life. The last verse of this corrido had Villa saying goodbye and telling his

compatriots he was off to Columbus to see Americans.239 The mention of Columbus helps date

the corrido to after March of 1916. After the battles at Celaya, Villa and his supporters could not

sustain their positions and slowly retreated back to Chihuahua.

236 Enrique C. Villaseñor, “Mañanitas de la División del Norte,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 194-195. 237 “Defensa de Celaya y Triunfo del General Obregón,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 198-199. 238 “Los Combates de Celaya,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 200-202. 239 “Los Combates de Celaya,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 202-204. 56

In Chihuahua, Villa devised a new strategy for a campaign in neighboring Sonora, but the

operation failed. In Corrido de Casas Grandes, songwriter Rosalio Arguello captured the

hardships to move artillery and men across Cañon del Fraile. Failing to surprise the town of

Agua Prieta in Sonora, the remaining Villistas went to Nogales. The locals greeted them and

offered a building for their wounded to recover. In one of the verses, the author recalled Villa

saying his followers were not with him by force or abuse.240 In this corrido, the failure of the

Sonora campaign is mitigated. The disappointments at Agua Prieta, Hermosillo, and San Pedro

de la Cueva are not mentioned, in addition to the hardship of crossing into Sonora and the death

of Villa’s right hand man Rodolfo Fierro near Casas Grandes.

The campaign in Sonora proved so unsuccessful that back in Chihuahua, Villa decided to disband the División del Norte in December of 1915 and continued with a guerrilla campaign.

The start of 1916 brought a shift in the way Villa conducted war against his foes; no longer the commander of thousands of troops, a new guerilla strategy was devised, where each regional leader remained in control of his men, who, at given moments, were concentrated for joint ventures. One of the advantages of this new strategy was that each leader was left to his own resourcefulness to provide for the men under his control. Another advantage was that without a central base of operations, it proved almost impossible to fight against the Villistas, because

Carranza’s forces became too far stretched out to cover both states of Chihuahua and Durango.

The attack on Columbus, New Mexico, provided a testing ground for the effectiveness of guerrilla warfare. The attack drew international attention at a moment when newspapers reported on events unfolding in Europe. Several corridos chronicled the attack and its aftermath. In El

Corrido de Columbus, an anonymous songwriter took the position of a Villista entering the U.S.

240 “Corrido de Casas Grandes,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 222-223. 57 community. The song recalled how the Americans started to run when they heard the voice of

Villa commanding his forces to advance. The author questioned U.S. masculinity and courage by writing that even if the Villistas were few; the gringos with their thousand rifles and artillery would eventually give up chasing Villa in the mountains. It also mentioned the permission granted by Carranza to the Woodrow Wilson administration to let U.S. troops cross into Mexico to chase Villa. In the final verse, the author remarked that Villa no longer was on horse but rather flying on his airplane.241

In La Persecusion de Villa, the author started with Carranza’s approval to let U.S. troops

into Mexico. The author then questions the soldiers’ valor in the following verse by stating that if

they were brave enough then they could cross and learn how to die. This corrido ridiculed the

U.S. soldiers for never finding Villa and the campaign hardships they encountered in Mexico.

Certain verses spoke of a fantastic story where Villa dressed his soldiers with U.S. uniforms in

order to avoid detection and then used airplanes to fly over the soldiers as they marched through

the desert of Chihuahua. In reality, during the first part of the expedition, Villa was in hiding as a

result of a leg injury received during a skirmish; and it was only afterwards that he led an attack

on Chihuahua City in September. Villa’s courage and wit were highlighted as the U.S. troops

were undermined.242

Before the Punitive Expedition left Mexico, Colonel W.J. Nicholson lowered the U.S.

flag at Colonia Dublán to the tune of Tipperary, while a chorus composed by the African-

American Corporal Ross of the Tenth Cavalry was sung to remember the occasion:

“We started from the border And we charged to Parral: We were chasing Pancho Villa And Lopez, his old pal.

241 “El Corrido de Columbus,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 236. 242 “La Persecución de Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 5-7. 58

Our horses were starved and dying, And we lived on parched corn, For its darn poor picking in Chihuahua. Where Villa was born” 243

This verse illustrated the frustration felt by many U.S. soldiers at not capturing Villa or his right

hand man Martin López. It also highlighted the lack of provisions found in Chihuahua by 1916,

likely another reason why Villa decided to switch his strategy to guerrilla warfare.

One of the few corridos with dates during the years of guerilla warfare is Romance

Historico Villista. This corrido was given to a family member of journalist Antonio M. Delgado at a local newspaper in Chihuahua.244 The story went from October of 1916 to January of 1917,

and is narrated from the perspective of a soldier operating in the area of San Andrés. In the first few verses, the author mentioned his forced recruitment into the forces of Juan Murga and their brave encounters with Carrancistas. Campaign life was vividly described, together with its privations and glories. In one occasion, the soldiers spent days without food because of persecution and constant combat. In another occasion, they succeeded in assaulting a train and found boxes of José Cuervo tequila.

Since the soldier was not under the direct orders of Villa, the corrido does not focus on him. When Villa is mentioned, he is often described as a strategist, as in the battle against federal forces at Camargo on December 12, 1916. With a new maneuver to retake Torreón, the author provided details of troop movements and Villa’s remark that within 24 hours the city would be under his control. The seizure of Torreón took four days, but it was significant because it undermined the authority of Carranza and the Punitive Expedition still present in Mexico. The

243 “Hauling Down the Flag,” El Paso Herald, February 2, 1917. 244 Antonio M. Delgado, Romance Historico Villista: Diario en Verso de un Soldado Villista (Chihuahua, México: La Soborna Libreria, 1975). 59 corrido ended with the author’s narrative of their defeat in January and the memories of the fallen soldiers originally from San Andrés.245 Events related in this corrido are completely

accurate according to a detailed study of physician Rubén Osorio.246

After these defeats and for most of 1917, Villa and his forces remained engaged in low- profile guerrilla warfare. For example, no corridos recalled the travel of Villa and a small detachment towards Mexico City in the summer of 1917 to try to capture Venustiano Carranza.

Later that year, a constitutionalist corrido narrated the fear that townspeople had for Villa in

Chihuahua. Written as a satire, the author warned that fathers best hide their daughters while

Villa was handed a defeat at the hands of the town’s social defenses.247

The Corrido al General Aguirre questioned Villa’s bravery. Referring to Villa as Arango, the song narrated how Villa held Aguirre’s son hostage and tried to negotiate his release in exchange for the town. Refusing to surrender the town, according to the song Aguirre in some way caused the murder of his son Manuel.248 The use of the name Doroteo Arango or Doroteo, instead of Villa, is usually present in corridos that speak ill of the revolutionary leader. By using

Villa’s given name, the authors symbolically returned Villa to the time before the revolution and subverted his authority.

During 1919, two significant Villista incidents were captured in corridos. In September of

1919, General Martín López was wounded in a failed attack on Durango. The wound proved to be fatal, and in Tragedia de Martín, the anonymous author recalled López’s story and his

courage. The corrido announced the death of López and then followed with a verse on when

245 “Romance Historico Villista,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 14-40. 246 Delgado, 25-41. 247 Alberto Granillo, “Le llegada de Villa a Tepehuanes,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 64-65. 248 E. Martinez Najera, “Corrido al General Aguirre,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 65. 60 they attacked Columbus and burned all the houses to the ground, which did not happen. López was described by a verse where he told his troops it was as preferable to die than to surrender.

Villa was mentioned as crying together with his Dorados for the loss of one of the most important lieutenants.249 The death of Martín López was a significant blow to Villa because he

considered the former a loyal follower present during the hardships of campaign.

Shortly after the death of López, the capture and execution of General Felipe Ángeles

provided another significant surprise to Villa. In three corridos, Aprehensión del General

Ángeles, Tragedia del General Felipe Ángeles, and Corrido del General Felipe Ángeles, the

misfortunes of Angeles’s final days are told. The first anonymous author wrote of Ángeles’

capture by Carranza’s forces and plea by the Woodrow Wilson administration to condemn his

death penalty. The second corrido provided more detail about the trial, what the defense asserted

on his behalf, and his last hours. The corrido described Angeles’s willingness to embrace death.

In the third corrido, Ángeles was portrayed as an honest man who was loved by Francisco I.

Madero, and who confronted Victoriano Huerta when he betrayed the government. The song also addressed Angeles’s cooperation with Villa and his exile to Texas in 1915. The corrido commented that Ángeles requested the honor of ordering his own execution. This corrido was explicit in explaining that Ángeles’ was given the coup de grace.250

The assassination of Venustiano Carranza in 1920 and the arrival of the Sonoran

revolutionaries to power allowed Francisco Villa a window of opportunity to negotiate a truce

with the government of interim president Adolfo de la Huerta. Three corridos, La Rendición de

Villa, La Conferencia con Villa, and Rendición de Francisco Villa y sus leales guerrileros,

249 “Tragedia de Martin,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 113 250 “Aprehension del General Ángeles,” “Tragedia del General Felipe Ángeles,” & “Corrido del General Felipe Ángeles,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 115-120. 61 captured various instances of the negotiation and compromises reached with the government.

Guerrero explained that Villa and his men received land and a year’s salary, so they could settle and hopefully become prosperous. He described Villa as protecting the poor and elderly, and defending the honor of Madero when Orozco and Huerta betrayed him. Villa’s victories and reasons that made him famous was for a result of him capturing Chihuahua, Torreón, Zacatecas, and Mexico City, and confronting U.S. troops at Columbus, New Mexico. The song acknowledged that it was only with the death of Carranza that an arrangement to retire was made. The corrido ended with Villa’s departure to Canutillo and a prayer to God and the Virgin of Guadalupe, thanking them for the surrender that ended the bloodshed among brothers.251

The second corrido focused particularly on the conferences held between Villa and the government represented by Eugenio Martínez. The song also described hardships Villa endured and his decision to move his remaining troops to Sabinas, Coahuila, in order to re-engage peace talks.252 The third corrido was a local production from Durango published by Montes El de la

Guaripa, and also provided detailed information about the days prior to capitulation. The author

underlined Adolfo de la Huerta’s determination to negotiate with Villa despite the pursuit set

forth by Generals Juan Andreu Almazán and Joaquín Amaro. The corrido unambiguously

pointed out that the only reason why the capitulation had not occurred before was because of

Carranza’s obsession with either capturing or killing Villa. The corrido echoed the time before

the revolution, when cattle freely roamed the countryside, and provided a vivid description of life

in Chihuahua in 1920 by depicting nearly deserted ranches due to devastation and forced

251 Eduardo Guerero, “La Rendición de Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 162-163. 252 “La Conferencia con Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 164-165. One verse describes Villa is dead, making this corrido a post-mortem product. 62 resettlement of people by government forces to subdue Villistas into extinction.253 No corridos

are available from the time Villa spent at Canutillo.

Villa’s assassination in July of 1923 prompted several corridos, among them Verdaderos

detalles del asesinato del General Francisco Villa and La Muerte de Francisco Villa. The former

glorified Villa by comparing him to Napoleon, claiming Villa was seated next to god. Other

verses characterized Villa as a loyal and humble man because he always defended Madero, and

then gave up fame to work in the fields instead. The author unequivocally points to the political

nature of the assassination, providing details about Villa’s final days, and the subsequent lack of

initiative by local authorities to capture the perpetrators. In one of the verses, Villa was quoted as

saying with his last breath that he wanted to make the country great.254

A day after the assassination took place, a correspondent from El Universal Gráfico stated Villa’s last words were “¡Me traicionan mis hermanos de raza! ¡Viva México!255” These words proved unlikely given at the death of Villa, but their publication in a newspaper lent the myth a degree of believability. These alleged last words show up in other formats through the years. La Muerte de Francisco Villa, for example, described the assassination and recalled

Villa’s desire to keep peace and not seek the presidency. Villa’s heroism was dignified in various verses: when avenging the death of Madero, attacking Columbus, and reminding the Americans they could now regain their courage.256

253 Montes el de la Guaripa, “Rendición de Francisco Villa y sus leales guerrilleros,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 165-167. 254 Samuel M. Lozano, “Verdaderos Detalles del Asesinato del General Francisco Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 196-198. 255 “La Camara Investigara la Muerte de Francisco Villa,” El Universal Gráfico (México, D.F.), July 21, 1923. 256 Ezequiel Martinez, “La Muerte de Francisco Villa,” in Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo III, 198-199. 63

In February of 1926, journalists from Mexico and the United States informed the public that unknown men decapitated Villa under the cover of night. Though various hypotheses emerged, no clear culprit appeared, but they did lead to a corrido from Imprenta Guerrero. La

Decapitación de Villa blamed the gringos for taking his skull in order to exhibit it through the

United States because of their inability to capture him during the Punitive Expedition.257 The corridos about Villa’s assassination and decapitation do not portray him negatively.

Campaign Songs

Composer Gerónimo Baqueiro Foster wrote to his friend Manuel Esquivel Durán in

1953, asking him to share what songs different armies played during the revolution. In response,

Manuel Esquivel wrote back with a partial list of corridos and songs that he remembered during

his time with the División del Norte.258 Esquivel had been part of the military bands assigned to

Francisco Villa and Felipe Ángeles. The letter included the following songs: Brigada Prieto,

General Agustín Estrada, Carabineros de Coahuila, Oficiales, Emblema naciónal, Tierra

blanca, Jesusita en Chihuahua, El rebelde, Adelita,259 Valentina, La cucaracha, La soldadera,

La pajarera, El quelite, El sauze y la palma, Ya son las dos, vida mía, El adiós de Carrasco,

Corrido Villista, Aires de la Revolución, Aires naciónales, Sones laguneros, and Villa’s personal

favorite Las tres pelonas.

257 Eduardo Guerrero, “La Decapitación de Villa,” in Cesar Macazaga Ordoño et. all Corridos de la Revolución Mexicana (México D.F.: Editorial Innovación, S.A. de C.V., 1985). 258 Herlinda Mendoza Castillo, “La Música y la Revolución en Documentos Localizados en el Archivo Baqueiro Foster del Cenidim: Aproximaciónes para su Estudio,” in … y la Música se Volvió Mexicana: Testimonio Musical de México núm. 51, (México, D.F.: Instituto Naciónal de Antropología e Historia, 2010), 226. 259 Avitia Hernández in his investigation of this song’s origin remarks that in 1913 when the forces of Domingo Arrieta were sent to Sinaloa to support the advance of Obregón, his musical band director Julian S. Reyes meet with a local who told him of a song from that region dating to 1909 and then proceeded to whistle the La Adelita. Avitia Hernández, Corrido Historico Mexicano – Tomo II, 187. 64

Years later, in another letter to Gerónimo Baqueiro, composer Manuel Neira Barragán explained that Villa was a great organizer that intuitively recognized the importance of music to keep soldiers cheerful. Villa was known to pardon and incorporate military musicians from opposing armies into his different brigades instead of ordering the musicians, execution. In this same letter, Neira Barragán elaborated on the origins of Las tres pelonas, written by Isaac

Calderón during the Porfiriato. The song is dedicated to Calderon’s three daughters who were shaved bald during a typhus outbreak in Mexico City. Villa enjoyed this song so much that he would request it by scratching his head and lifting three fingers up in the air.260 In one version of

this song, three sisters were sitting outside cheering vivas to their favorite revolutionaries

Francisco Villa, Álvaro Obregón, Tomás Urbina, and Venustiano Carranza.261 In looking at the

specific names, these lyrics likely correspond to a period between 1913 and 1914, before the

resignation of Victoriano Huerta.

In 1914 journalist Gregory Mason also wrote down another popular song: La Cucaracha.

Dating from the time of the French intervention in the nineteenth century, the song was reborn in

1913,262 when revolutionary forces reshaped the lyrics:

“When we come back from Juárez, We will bring with us a plow, So as to hitch on it like oxen Old Orozco and Mercado… When we go into Chihuahua We will go in by the rostro [sic.] So’s to take from old Mercado That old - - - - Castro. Oh the cockroach, oh the coackroch Will not move, the old slowpoke; Because it hasn’t, because it hasn’t

260 Mendoza Castillo, 229-230. Ironically Issac Calderon was executed in 1915 by Villista forces operating in Guanajuato not knowing who he was. 261 Issac Calderon, “Las Tres Pelonas,” accessed through http://www.sobrino.net/lyrics/Lastrespelonas.htm 262 Mendoza Castillo, 229. 65

Any marihuana to smoke 263

Making particular mention of General Salvador Mercado and Pascual Orozco, these verses show

the ingenuity of composers to identify foes and what type of punishment was deserved. In

another version of the song, Victoriano Huerta was the cockroach smoking marihuana, in the

popular belief he was often drunk or drugged during his presidency. La Cucaracha was

popularized during the 1920s when musician Alfredo Tamayo Marin taught the song to rural

communities together with the national anthem.264 Considered Villa’s marching song, La

Cucaracha became the main soundtrack in the 1934 movie Viva Villa!

In the 1920s, radio popularized corridos and other folk ballads by playing the songs

across the country. Corridos helped strengthened the government interpretation that all

revolutionary factions shared a common cause by glorifying the nation’s recent struggle. This

explains why various corridos and ballads from the 1910s and 1920s continued to find a place

among other styles that developed such as boleros or canciones rancheras. This same brand of

nationalism would accompany those Mexicans that migrated to the United States.265 A testimony to radio and its success is that many of the songs enjoyed by the División del Norte, such as

Jesusita en Chihuahua or El sauze y la palma, are still heard all over Mexico today.

Songs Honoring Francisco Villa

Pepe Albarrán, José Berrones, and Graciela Olmos are notable lyricists that through their

songs rescued and preserved the memory of Francisco Villa after the 1920s. These composers

263 Gregory Mason, “The Mexican of the Hour,” The Outlook (New York, NY), June 6, 1914. Mason misspelled rastro [slaughterhouse] with rostro [face], 304. 264 William H. Beezley, “Roberto Tellez Girón Olace” (presentation, RMCLAS, Salt Lake City, UT, April 6, 2017). 265 Sonia Robles, “Shaping México Lindo: Radio, Gender and Music in Greater México, 1923-1946” (PhD diss., Michigan State University, 2012), 20. 66 became an ongoing bridge between the popular sentiments of many northern communities that continued playing corridos during festivals. This is especially true when the event features a celebration of Francisco Villa.

Lyricist José Albarrán Martínez wrote various Villista corridos in the 1960s and 1970s, among them La Tumba Abandonada, La Poderosa, La Silla Abandonada, Caballo Prieto

Azabache, Mi Amigo Tordillo, and El Centauro de Oro. In La Tumba Abandonada, Albarrán inspired by the story of Villa’s tomb in Parral, Chihuahua. According to the corrido, the tomb was abandoned without flowers and with only birds flying by and crying their sorrow. The following verse mentioned the visit of one soldier praying in silence, and then writing on the tomb “Estoy presente, general.”266 In another version of the song, the author incorporated a verse

about the decapitation that occurred in 1926 and mentioned that the head of Villa was taken as a

further reassurance he was dead. Albarrán remarked that despite the missing head, history knew

that Villa should be immortalized despite a prevailing contempt of Villismo prior to the 1960s.

When in 1966 the name of Francisco Villa was inscribed with golden letters in the chamber of deputies, Albarrán composed El Centauro de Oro as homage.

In El Mayor de los Dorados, José Berrones narrated the story of a soldier from the ranks of Villa’s famed Dorado regiment. Written as a recollection, the soldier remembered the dangers faced in battle at Jiménez, where the soldier’s horse was killed underneath him, the soldier remained steadfast, even after Villa’s defeats at Celaya against Álvaro Obregón.267 The song

resonated the sadness of a veteran who remembered glorious days while living in the outskirts of

Parral. Popular among contemporary audiences, the lyrics echo the failure of the revolution to

266 Pepe Albarran, “La Tumba de Villa,” in Arturo Langle Ramírez, Los Primeros Cien Anios de Pancho Villa (México D.F.: Costa-Amic Editores, S.A., 1980), 95-96. 267 José Berrones, “El Mayor de los Dorados,” in Langle Ramírez, 106-107. 67 bring change to a disfranchised population. At the international level, this song was interpreted by Chilean folklorist Victor Jara as part of the Nueva Canción Latinoamérica movement in his

1970 Canto Libre album.

In Mexico, folk singers Oscar Chávez and Eulalio González, the latter better known as

Piporro, also interpreted a song dedicated to Villa entitled ¡Que Viva Mi General! Written by the

latter, this rendition started with an unnamed soldier paying homage to his general. Crying out of

happiness, he recalled that veterans never forgot to pay their respects. Referring to the most

faithful of his Dorados, the soldier rejoiced at the justice of official recognition made by

congress. This song also reflected the sentiment of many veterans who made pilgrimages to visit

their fallen leader and in turn remember participating in the armed struggle. These lyrics rejoiced

at the government recognition of Villa in the 1960s.268

Another prominent interpreter of Mexican experiences, Salvador “Chava” Flores Rivera

remembered the fear federal soldiers had of Villa in Ahi Viene el Tren. In this song, Chava Flores

described how at the mere sight of Villa’s train, the federal soldiers and their mistresses sought

cover. As the train got closer in the song, Flores sang that most of the federal soldiers had left to

pray at La Villa, and that ultimately it was not even Villa’s train but rather one filled with

rurales, sent as reinforcements.269 Meant as a joke, Chava Flores illustrated and perpetuated the

image of Villa as the scourge of his enemies.

In remembrance of one of Villa’s most distinguished horses, Graciela Olmos composed

Siete Leguas, a corrido that recalled Villa’s bravery after his defeats in Guanajuato. In one verse,

the author asks Villa to remember his triumphs at Paredón and Torreón, as the trains were ready

268 Eulalio Gutierrez, ¡Que Viva mi General!, http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=1548345 269 Salvador Flores, “Ahi Viene el Tren,” http://letras.com/chava-flores/1063206/ 68 to retreat north. The name and story of Siete Leguas came from an incident when Villa was almost captured but was saved by his wounded mare after eluding his capturers for seven leguas.

Curiously, various sources attest that Siete Leguas was given as a gift to Adolfo de la Huerta in

1920, who in return gave it to Lázaro Cárdenas.270 In following decades, the name also

represented a major tequila company owned by Ignacio González Vargas.

Songs composed in the 1990s by artists Steve Earle and Frank Fara exemplify a different

vision that shows their distance from earlier corridos and songs. In Mercenary Song, country

singer Steve Earle tells the story of two men from Georgia that traveled to Mexico to seek

employment as mercenaries. Of no particular ideology or training, the men’s rationale for

traveling to Durango in search of Pancho Villa was a salary in gold. Willing to die for a good salary, the soldiers of fortunes’ flag became the greenback dollar.271 As suggested by the title, the song is about a particular group of men that enrolled early on with the División del Norte, exemplified by the recruitment posters requesting experienced mercenaries in exchange for weekly payments in gold. Singing particularly to this point, Frank Fara in Pancho Villa Rides

Again mentioned mercenaries were fighting for gold, glory, and Mexico. The song also evoked the swelling armies Villa commanded shortly after leaving El Paso, Texas, in 1913. Part of a wider tribute, the cover art for the album Songs of the Untamed West features the singer, Billy the Kid, George Custer, and Francisco Villa all gathered around a campfire with the dusk falling in the background.272

270 Graciela Olmos, “El Siete Leguas,” in Langle Ramirez, 109. 271 Steve Earle, “Mercenary Song,” http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/steveearle/mercenarysong.html 272 Frank Fara, “Pancho Villa Rides Again,” in Songs of the Untamed West. http://www.comstockrecords.com/frankfara/scrapbook-pancho.html 69

The name of Villa also appeared in Chicano rap in the 1990s. West Coast rapper Arturo

Molina Jr., known as Frost,273 incorporates western references in his song Bamseeya. Frost

demonstrates his Mexican pride by praising Villa’s masculinity:

Bam, see ya Wouldn’t wanna be ya Blasting on fools like Pancho Villa Bam, see ya…274

As the song progressed, Frost claims he is a wanted man followed by the U.S. army and cavalry

who is able to lose them in Apache territory. He also bad-mouths recognized Wild West men

such as Doc Holiday, Jesse James, Buffalo Bill, and Billy the Kid, almost as a sneer for being

beneath Villa and his particular ability to avoid capture during the Punitive Expedition.

Conclusion

Playing to a live concert in Los Angeles, California in 2004, a Latin Ska group known as

Los de Abajo, performed an old song with a new take: La Persecución de Villa.275 As discussed

earlier, this song ridiculed the Punitive Expedition sent to capture Villa after his incursion into

Columbus, New Mexico. A fictitious tale, this corrido in particular illustrated the ambiguous

relation between myth and history created through the decades where the image of Villa went

through a process that made him a hero, a savior, a bandit, or the scourge of Mexico, depending

on the author’s affiliation.

In examining contemporary corridos prior to 1913, Villa was not a widely known figure.

Rather, it is other men such as Francisco I. Madero or Pascual Orozco that took the lead role,

with only marginal mentions of Villa. These distinctions are relevant because the historical

273 Pancho McFarland. Chicano Rap: Gender and Violence in the Postindustrial Barrio (Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press, 2008), 39. 274 Frost, “Bamseeya”, http://www.urbanlyrics.com/lyrics/frost/bamscena.html 275 Los de Abajo, “La Persecución de Villa,” http://vdevilla.tumblr.com/post/20106468660 70 record serves as a testimony that unlike Heraclio Bernal or other social bandits, Villa did not enjoy this poor reputation among his brethren prior to 1910. Musical fame came as a result of the first seizure of Torreón in September of 1913, when corridos mentioned the newly formed

División del Norte, but also still spoke of the revolutionaries as maderistas. This duality serves as a bridge that legitimates claims of the División del Norte avenging the death of Francisco I.

Madero. Building on the momentum of ongoing victories, subsequent corridos focused their attention towards Villa. It is also at this point that the División del Norte became synonymous with Villistas or Dorados. As a consequence, corridos and songs began to interweave the above three mentioned categories, with particular emphasis on the latter two, especially after 1915 when the División del Norte was dissolved.

During Villa’s guerrilla years, his attack on Columbus in 1916, and ability to outwit the

U.S. army became an ongoing theme until Villa’s surrender in 1920. With Villa’s assassination in 1923, corridos concentrated their attention on his bravery and ability to overcome odds due to his military genius. A persistent theme among common folk, veterans’ aspirations and concerns were captured by a new generation of songwriters that kept the collective memory of Villa alive until he was officially recognized by the government and incorporated as a national symbol. In many of the commemorations that honored Villa, corridos played an important part that serve to highlight the glories of the División del Norte. In this process, even horses were invited along for the ride as rancheras popularized the exploits of Siete Leguas. Villa’s internationalization during the 1970s is also important because despite his official incorporation by the government, he remained a voice of dissidence among disenfranchised people as illustrated by Victor Jara, Los de Abajo, or participants at regional celebrations held each year across Mexico and particularly in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Zacatecas.

Music not only captures different passions, but it also becomes an entry point to the past as demonstrated by anthropologist Ana Maria Alonso in her work with veterans in the 1980s. In one particular instance, Alonso mentioned visiting with a Villista who participated in the raid on

Columbus. Unwilling to talk at first due to fear he would be punished, the veteran finally agreed to the interview, asking Alonso to return the next day with mariachis who could sing Villista corridos for him276. These examples affirm that these songs are still prevalent in every day

celebrations. In fact, government institutions now sponsor contests for poetry and corridos.277

276 Ana Maria Alonso, Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico’s Northern Frontier (Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1995), 236. 277 Chew Sanchez, 18. 72

CHAPTER III Social Memory of Francisco Villa in Cartoons and Comic Books

“Rising from a lowly peon to a Bandit General who by might of right, ruled all of northern Mexico, Pancho Villa has become the legendary Robin Hood of his country… cruel, vicious, and a ruthless killer, his exploits made him the greatest ‘bad man’ of the twentieth century…”278

Cartoons and comic books recount history, provide education, and grant access to exotic worlds. Comic books publishers aim for wide consumption: they mean for their wares to be carried around, bartered, used, sold, and re-sold. They constitute an invaluable fabric of perceptions consumed and shared by everyday people. Because of their popularity and widespread consumption, cartoons and comic books form a body of artifacts to understand the construction of Francisco Villa’s image over time. A favorite subject among cartoonists, Villa’s image emerged in every decade from 1910 to the early 2000s, and these portrayals changed over the decades.

The existence of cartoons as drawings in Mexico can be traced to the colonial period.

Nevertheless, during the nineteenth century, with the technological development of the lithograph and the cultural emergence of political satire, artists developed a particularly robust style of Mexican humor.279 Cartoonists supplemented satirical intention of their images with text

that provided another layer of subtext to the narrative. With the advent of modern Mexico,

cartoonists projected their hopes and realities upon a new political elite. Presidents Benito

278 Pancho Villa, AVON periodicals, 1950, author’s collection.

279 Juan Manuel Aurrecoechea and Armando Bartra, Puros Cuentos: Historia de la historieta en México, Tomo I, 1874-1934 (México, D.F.: Editorial Grijalbo, 1988), 45. 73

Juárez, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, and Porfirio Díaz found themselves satirized by cartoonists in a number of popular newspaper circulars such as La Orquestra, La Tarantula, or El Hijo del

Ahuizote.

Comics also found their way into marketing campaigns and magazines. For example, El

Buen Tono, used comic strips as a marketing ploy for cigarettes. Under the guidance of lithographer Juan Bautista Urrutia, most strips were produced as a practical means to form brand recognition among consumers.280 The stories in the comic strips Urrutia produced reflected life

under President Porfirio Díaz, and the consumer culture that surrounded the industry. Urrutia

initially refrained from commenting on the outbreak of the revolution in 1910, but eventually

incorporated stories of Francisco I. Madero. A period of free expression during Madero’s

presidency allowed Urrutia to lampoon both the president due to his short stature and Emiliano

Zapata as a barbarian.281 Antonio Vanegas Arroyo and José Guadalupe Posada also published

comic strips that complemented their other publications.282

Popular targets of political caricatures included: Francisco I. Madero, Gustavo Madero,

Emiliano Zapata, Eufemio Zapata, and José María Pino Suárez. During the constitutionalist

struggle, Venustiano Carranza invested in the production of a graphic press headed by Gerardo

Murillo, known as. “Dr. Atl,” with illustrations from José Clemente Orozco. During the 1920s, newspapers such as El Universal sponsored contests for amateur cartoonists that presented stories and helped find new talent in the Sunday funnies.283 The modern comic book appeared in

280 Thelma Camacho Morfín, Las historietas de el buen tono (1904-1922) (México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2013), 14. 281 Ibid., 157. 282 Aurrecoechea and Bartra, 33. 283 Anne Rubenstein, Bad Language, Naked Ladies, and Other Threats to the Nation (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1998), 17. 74

1934 with the publication of Paquin. Investment in literacy programs sponsored by the government created an even wider reading base for comic books.

Villa in the 1910s

One of the earliest cartoons depicting Pancho Villa appeared in the local Chihuahua City

newspaper El Correo. In a reprint of the 1911 edition, the editor re-introduced the cartoon and

made a political point about the revolt headed by Pascual Orozco in 1912. In the cartoon, Pascual

Orozco, Enrique Creel, and Fernando Pimentel y Fagoaga sit across the table from Abraham

González, the governor of Chihuahua, and a young boy identified as el pueblo talking to him.

Next to González is Francisco Villa, awaiting orders. Villa, ready for combat, contrasts sharply

with Orozco and his refined wardrobe. This cartoon symbolized how the Chihuahuan elite

persuaded Orozco to betray the revolution and Abraham González. The cartoon shows that Villa

was not a household name in Mexico or the United States prior to the revolution.284

In Mexico City, the growing popularity of Villa did not escape publishers Antonio

Vanegas Arroyo and José Guadalupe Posada. A prolific illustrator, Posada created several

engravings of Villa. In one drawing, Posada used photographs as a template to illustrate the near-

death experience Villa faced in June of 1912, when General Victoriano Huerta ordered his

execution. The illustration showed Villa in front of the firing squad, awaiting the execution.285 In

another broadsheet, Vanegas Arroyo reproduced a rumor that Villa was taken prisoner near

Palomas in September of 1913. The broadsheet narrated how Villa, on his knees, begged

Victoriano Huerta for his life, moments before Madero’s intervention. In the final verse, the

284 “El Cientificismo en Acción,” El Correo de Chihuahua (Chihuahua, CHIH), August 24, 1912. 285 José Guadalupe Posada, “El Fusilamiento del Brigadier Honorario Francisco Villa,” Broadsheet. (Grabado en Madera. Colección Andrés Blaisten, Fondo Díaz de León. www.museoblaisten.com) 75 author warned that Villa’s life would end due to all the crimes he had committed, yet provided no examples of the crimes.286

Villa gained prominence in the United States, soon after the initial victories of the

División del Norte in 1913.287 Villa’s respect for U.S. properties and orderly management of

troops sat well with the administration of Woodrow Wilson, who saw in Villa a serious

challenger to Victoriano Huerta. During this period, the image of Villa became that of a noble

bandit, wrongly persecuted by the oppressive authorities of Porfirian regime he sought to defeat.

His changed image came in part from the letter Madero sent to the El Paso Morning Times in

April of 1911, justifying Villa’s actions. Ironically, one of the first cartoons of Villa in the

United States, which appeared soon after the surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez in November of

1913, presented a dark portrait of the revolutionary leader. Oscar Cesare represented Villa as a

skull bringing death, accompanied by the caption “liberation by extermination.”288 The cartoonist

chose to illustrate Villa’s dark side by critiquing his determination to execute federal officers

captured during battle.

In another drawing by Oscar Cesare, Villa appeared as a jack-in-the-box with the caption

“Who said I disappeared?”289 A frightened federal officer watched in astonishment after seeing a

cartoon version of Villa with a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. In light of the events

unfolding in January of 1914, the resurgence of Francisco Villa was nothing short of a miracle,

286 “¡Es casi seguro que con su vida pagará el terrible bandido el sinnúmero de crímenes que pesan sobre él! Vanegas Arroyo, Reaprehensión del bandolero Francisco Villa,” Broadsheet (Engraving by Posada). September 1913. DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/mex/id/619/rec/6

287 Juan Manuel Aurrecoechea, La revolución en el espejo de la caricatura estadounidense, (México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Segunda Edición, 2012), 112. 288 Oscar Cesare, “Pancho Villa. Liberation by Extermination,” The Sun, November 18, 1913, in Aurrecoechea, 113. 289 Oscar Cesare, “Who said I disappeared?” The Sun, January 10, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 114. 76 considering he was in jail an later in hiding for most of 1912 and early 1913. The attack on

Ciudad Juárez in November of 1913 not only launched his image internationally, but also coincided with the debacle of the federales in Chihuahua. A month after the Ciudad Juárez attack, the federal army was defeated at Tierra Blanca and retreated towards Ojinaga by the beginning of 1914.

Within days of occupying the capital of Chihuahua, Villa signed a contract with the

Mutual Film Corporation to grant them film rights to his battles and produce a movie of his life.

Commemorating this event and mocking the idea that battles either needed to be fought during the day or recreated, a cartoonist from The Evening Star drew Villa in front of the cameraman telling him repeat the battle, as he forgot to put film in the machine. From Villa’s bullet-ridden shirt and pants, his hat popped-out, and with his right hand on his cheek, the dazed revolutionary looked on, not able to utter a word. In the background, a smoke stricken field showed the bodies of men incapable of participating in another take.290 While comical, this cartoon illustrated the

opposing war intentions for Mexicans and U.S. spectators. For the former, the revolution

represented a struggle to remove Victoriano Huerta from government. For the latter it was a form

of entertainment that could be recreated to fake authenticity.

The assassination of landowner William Benton in February of 1914 created a media

storm. While it was uncertain who killed him, Benton was gunned down while visiting the

Villista camp. In one cartoon of the event, both Villa and Huerta were drawn with sinister faces

as they walked away from each other in a cemetery. On Huerta’s side, the tombs of Francisco

Madero and José Maria Pino Suarez contrasted with the tomb of William Benton, clearly located

290 “The Joys of Fighting for the Movies,” The Evening Star, January 16, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 117. 77 on Villa’s side of the cemetery.291 The cartoon critiqued Villa, suggesting he was no better than

Huerta. In another cartoon, the Benton incident was portrayed as an international affair, as an

older man representing an outraged British subject told a surprised Woodrow Wilson to

reprehend the small Mexican child he dragged by the ear.292

The Revolution created unresolved grievances between Europe and the United States.

European nations demanded that the United States be more actively involved in Mexico. This

became clear in April of 1914 when U.S. forces seized Veracruz. In a comic strip titled, No

Admittance Behind Scenes, Uncle Sam appeared as a bouncer at the stage entrance of a theatre

featuring a Mexican burlesque show. The stars of the show, Carranza, Huerta, and Villa, had

their heads superimposed on those of three female figures dancing. European nations lined up at

the door while Uncle Sam turned them away with the caption, “no admittance behind scenes.”293

A doorbell, symbolizing the Monroe Doctrine, reminded spectators why Uncle Sam did not grant

Europe granted backstage access. In returning to the image of the burlesque dancers, Villa’s inclusion highlighted his international importance to media outlets, a product of his victories and the Benton incident.

As Villa succeeded on the battlefield, so did his positive media portrayals. The triumph of the División del Norte at Torreón in early April of 1914 was captured in a Jay Norwood cartoon showing Villa eating an apple representing Mexico.294 A worm with Huerta’s face appeared both surprised and angered as he watched Villa eating a piece representing Torreón. The cartoon

291 “Villa and Huerta: ‘Murderers’,” The Sun, February 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 119. 292 Jay Norwood Darling, “Involving the Whole Neighborhood,” Des Moines Register and Dealer, February 24, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 120. 293 Jos. Keppler, “No Admittance Behind Scenes,” Puck, Vol. LXXV, No. 1937, April 18, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 132. 294 Jay Norwood Darling, “The Progress of the Mexican Revolution,” Des Moines Register and Dealer, April 4, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 124. 78 suggested that space and time were running out for Huerta. In reality, the defeat at Torreón represented a significant loss to Huerta, leaving only the heavily fortified position at Zacatecas between the revolutionaries and Mexico City. In another illustration, cartoonist John T.

McCutcheon drew Huerta in the middle of two hard choices. On one side, Villa rushed towards him from the left while Wilson and the U.S. Navy threatened from the other side. The caption read “I am absolutely certain of a licking. Now, which would I prefer? And do I want it soon or a few weeks later?”295

The U.S. occupation of Veracruz in April of 1914 gave cartoonists opportunities to tell the Woodrow administration what it should to do next. In a cartoon by McCutcheon, he replaced the golden eagle of the Mexican flag with the U.S. bald eagle. The bald eagle carried three serpents with the heads of Huerta, Villa, and Zapata. The title of the cartoon, The Only Way Is To

Make A Complete Job Of It296 suggested that some U.S. leaders wanted to push the occupation

beyond the coast.297 Later in July, the same staff artist visited Villa after his success at Zacatecas.

Traveling to Chihuahua, McCutcheon sketched a lifelike portrait of Villa wearing a uniform

similar to that given to him by the Mutual Film Corporation.298 In addition to the front-page sketch, an accompanying article informed readers about the rise of the revolutionary leader and his charming personality that won over the international reporters visiting Chihuahua.299

As illustrated in two cartoons by Winsor McCay from the Hearst Corporation, not all reports or cartoons on Villa were positive. Accusing then Secretary of State William J. Bryan of

295 John T. McCutcheon, “Between the Devil and the Deep Sea,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 16, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 135. 296 John T. McCutcheon, “The Only Way is to Make the Complete Job of it,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 24, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 137. 297 John T. McCutcheon, “In Vera Cruz,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 28, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 147. 298 John T. McCutcheon, “Villa: A Sketch from Life by John T. McCutcheon,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 21, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 149. 299 John T. McCutcheon, “Gen. Villa’s Rise Skyrocket Kind,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 21, 1914. 79 supporting Villa, McCay drew a cartoon that depicted the secretary painting a portrait of Villa. A sluggish and overweight Villa posed with a Mexican sombrero, holding a bloodied sword while

Secretary Bryan painted Villa in a top hat with a white dove. A caption further stressed the sharp contrast between the model and the painting, urging readers to compare the two; “If you doubt the accuracy of the picture, gaze first on the model and then on the canvas.”300 A second cartoon

showed Secretary Bryan and Villa next to each other with the title, “He’s good enough for

me”.301 Here, McCay rendered Villa more realistically, yet still painted him with darker tones

and as slightly overweight, conveying the notion of a dirty, barbaric Mexican.

With Victoriano Huerta in exile and the rupture between Villa and Carranza apparent by

the fall of 1914, Jay Norwood expressed an ongoing sentiment after observing the revolving door

of the Mexican presidency. In one cartoon, Norwood represented the presidency as a wild horse

bucking in mid air with Villa waiting his turn. On the ground, already knocked from the horse,

lay Euliano Gutiérrez, Victoriano Huerta, Venustiano Carranza, Porfirio Díaz, and a cross that

represented Francisco I. Madero. The cartoon challenged Villa, asking if he too would be

knocked out or able to tame the horse.302 Further conflict between Carranza and Villa led in June

of 1915 to a cartoon showing two small, shabby children fighting with sticks over Mexico. On

the U.S. side of the border, Woodrow Wilson, dressed as a police officer, pointed a stick at the

two children, warning them to stop because the fight had gone long enough.303 Norwood’s

cartoon portrayed Carranza and Villa in a childlike manner, which reinforced the idea of U.S.

authority and justified U.S. intervention in Mexico’s struggle. Recognition of the Carranza

300 Winsor McCay, “The Portrait,” New York American, May 8, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 142. 301 Winsor McCay, “He’s Good Enough for me,” New York American, May 5, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 143. 302 Jay Norwood Darling, “The Seat of the Mexican Government,” Des Moines Register and Dealer, November 30, 1914, in Aurrecoechea, 153. 303 Clifford Kennedy Berryman, No Title, The Washington Star, June 2, 1915, in Aurrecoechea, 158. 80 government by the U.S. prompted the dissolution of Villa’s División del Norte, and Villa’s attack on the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

Reinforcing the notion that Villa fell from grace in late 1915, a cartoon showed him trying to shake the hand of Uncle Sam. With his arms crossed and eyes cast downward with disgust, Uncle Sam looked at Villa’s bloody outstretched hand, as he asked, I’m willing to forgive all – shake!304 In 1916, in what seemed a preamble to the Punitive Expedition, a cartoon

by Clifford Kennedy Barryman mocked the Carranza government of Carranza for its failure to

capture Villa, who was hiding inside a cave while a group of soldiers waited in another

location.305 Another cartoon showed a group of revolutionaries laughing as they opened a letter

from the U.S. government asking them to behave. One character told the group that the paper

was great because they were running short on cigarette paper.306

A cartoon from March, portrayed Villa fleeing to Mexico, pursued by an angry Uncle

Sam jumping the barbed wire fence, proclaiming: I’ve had about enough of this.307 In another

cartoon, Oscar Cesare showed Villa celebrating with his sombrero in the air while firing at the

U.S. flag. Below the flag, the cartoon showed two tombstones, one for Veracruz and another for

Columbus. In this cartoon, Villa was drawn with sharp fangs.308 In May of 1916, Leslie’s

Illustrated Weekly published a bulls-eye with Villa’s head in the middle that sharply contrasted

304 Edwina Dumm, “The Magnanimous,” The Columbus Monitor, December 20, 1915 in Aurrecoechea, 165. 305 Clifford Kennedy Berryman, “Hard to Catch,” The Washington Star, January 27, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 167. 306 Luther Daniels Bradley, “A ‘Note’ would be appreciated,” The Chicago Daily News, January 13, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 168. 307 Clifford Kennedy Berryman, “I’ve Had About Enough of This,” The Washington Star, March 10, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 170. 308 Oscar Cesare, “Saluting the Flag,” The Sun, April 10, 1916 in Aurrecoechea, 171. 81 with its previous magazine cover of December 1913, where Villa was triumphant on his horse before seizing the governorship of Chihuahua.309

Though no one seemed to be able to capture Villa, some cartoonists still hoped. In one

cartoon by Edwina Dumm, the author depicted a U.S. soldier dreaming he had captured both

Villa and Carranza, tied to a tree. The young soldier stood proud as he received a medal for his

service.310 The cartoon became an illusion rather than an allusion of what occurred in the

Chihuahuan desert as the Punitive Expedition settled around Colonia Dublán for several months.

Cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Beryman summarized Villa’s movements over the summer in

Versatile Mr. Villa of Mexico. The cartoon showed a laughing Villa in the center. In April, the

cartoonist depicted Villa as mortally wounded and carried out by his followers. The next image

showed Villa’s gravestone with the message of his passing in May. Despite U.S. hopes of Villa’s

demise, he came out of hiding in June, leading U.S. troops on a wild chase that ended in

failure.311

Berryman's cartoon outlined the events that had occurred. After an initial skirmish, Villa

received a bullet wound to his right leg, forcing him into hiding for a few months. During this time, Villa split his forces and sent them off to several points in Chihuahua to divert attention

from his own whereabouts. Villa also asked his men to spread rumors of his death, leading to

many attempts to locate his tomb and remains. Once recovered, Villa led a new contingent of

soldiers and planned a strategic attack on Chihuahua’s capital on the eve of September 16, 1916

to liberate prisoners, and capture goods in order to continue with his guerrilla campaign. This

309 Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, CXVII No. 3042 (New York, N.Y.), December 25, 1913. 310 Edwina Dunn, No Title, The Columbus Monitor, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 183. 311 Clifford Kennedy Berryman, “Versatile Mr. Villa of Mexico,” The Washington Evening Star, July 11, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 195. 82 incident appeared in a broadsheet by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo with an earlier recycled illustration by José Guadalupe Posada.312

Carranza’s government failed to capture Villa. Caricaturist William A. Rogers

represented that failure in a cartoon in late 1916. Showing Villa carrying loot and an enslaved

woman, Rogers depicted Carranza mounted on a wooden horse, chasing after Villa. Villa looted

animals, jewels, a crutch, and a bag with the message Villa Dead or Alive. Adding insult to injury, the message and the crutch suggested that even wounded, Villa was still able to escape the governments of both Mexico and the United States.313 In another cartoon criticizing the

Punitive Expedition, Edwina Dunn drew Villa and Carranza inside a boxing ring. In a potent right blow, Villa poised to knock out Carranza while Uncle Sam looked on in dismay. The caption explained that Uncle Sam had already lost $50 million over the affair.314 Between 1917 and 1920, Villa continued resisting Carranza from his stronghold in Chihuahua; nevertheless, no cartoons depicting this period emerged in either Mexico or the United States.

With Carranza’s fall and Villa’s retirement in 1920, U.S. cartoonists presented a balanced image of the retired revolutionary. In 1921, a cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman showed a worried Uncle Sam accompanied by a small bear. Uncle Sam held a piece of paper that explained that Villa was now a successful farmer waiting to harvest between forty and fifty thousand bushels of wheat that season. The small bear also held up a book that read From

Destroyer To Producer – Villa.315 In the eyes of U.S. media, Villa’s transformation from an ex-

312 Vanegas Arroyo, “Un sarcasmo temerario del general Francisco Villa – 5ta parte,” Broadsheet, (Grabado en Madera), Colección Andrés Blaisten, Fondo Díaz de Leon, www.museoblaisten.com 313 William A. Rogers, “Villa Being Driven out of Chihuahua,” New York Herald, December 8, 1916, in Aurrecoechea, 204. 314 Edwina Dumm, “A Blamed Expensive Show,” The Columbus Monitor, January 2, 1917, in Aurrecoechea, 208. 315 Clifford Kennedy Berryman, “Pancho Villa,” The Washington Star, May 15, 1921, in Aurrecoechea, 220. 83 bandit to an industrious landowner showed a redeeming image that coincided with contemporary newspaper reports. Retirement allowed Villa to implement many of the promises made during the years of fighting. Through several designated colonias militares, Villa and his men implemented strict rules, many in accordance with progressive views held in the United States during the 1920s. Men tended the land during the morning, and went to school during the evenings. Drinking and other vices were strictly prohibited, and Villa established credit with the

Federal government to purchase necessary equipment to make the region in northern Durango and southern Chihuahua economically prosperous.

Villa in Comic Books during the 1930s and 1940s

Government efforts to increase literacy during the 1930s through the 1940s helped

expand the popularity of comic books among the masses.316 These decades also saw the rise of

other forms of literature, including the classics and newspaper serials with modern themes,

involving police stories, science fiction, and chronicles of the revolution. In this context, the

image of Villa emerged at the forefront due to a large number of corridos and novels from

authors like Martín Luis Guzmán, Rafael F. Muñoz, Nellie Campobello, and the anecdotes of

Elías Torres who transformed Villa through narrative into the Centaur of the North.317 In radio,

XEFO broadcasted radio episodes about Villa, narrated by Domingo Soler as early as 1935.318

Films and comic books followed close behind.

316 Armando Bartra, “The Seduction of the Innocents: The First Tumultuous Moments of Mass Literacy in Postrevolutionary Mexico,” in Gilbert Michael Joséph and Daniel Nugent et. al., Everyday Forms of State Formation: Revolution and the Negotiation of Rule in Modern Mexico, (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994), 302-303. 317 Ibid., 307. 318 Ibid., 308. 84

In the illustrated newspaper La Prensa, short stories authored by ex-combatant Dario W.

Silva, told of Villa’s exploits and triumphs. The titles ranged from El Sitio de Chihuahua to Villa

Arrollador, and contained full-page illustrations. Villa mentioned in his memoirs that Silva was among the eight men who crossed the border with him in 1913; many of the stories related by the author in these weekly renditions recounted his first-hand experiences.319 Silva became Villa’s

military secretary and accompanied him during many of the campaigns and guerrilla battles from

1913 to 1920 when the armistice was signed. Thereafter, Silva moved to El Paso, Texas.320

Villa made his first appearance in comic books when Ignacio Sierra published Sucesos

Para Todos, a weekly print recounting stories authored by Elias L. Torres, who had served as an intermediary between President Adolfo de la Huerta and Villa in 1920.321 In one episode, the

comic book recounted an incident in which Villa stormed into Parral, determined to open a

school. Villa assembled the inhabitants and asked for money. When only partial funding was

secured, Villa told the crowd he would leave the money with a secret person until more funds

were gathered to open the school. The comic book went on to explain that when Villa’s rival

Manuel M. Diéguez occupied the city, that secret person came forth and gave him the money to

fund the school.322 While the story follows a blurry line between reality and fiction, Torres’s

stories were committed to exonerating the image of Villa through these types of acts that, over

time, transformed the image of Villa from villain to hero.323

319 Fondo Martin Luis Guzman. Caja 143, Exp., 7 Fojas 9, varias fechas 1935. 320 Robert Lepeley, “Col. Dario Silva, Military Secretary to Villa, Relates Activities of Chief Since 1913,” El Paso Morning Times (El Paso, TX), July 21, 1923. 321 Fondo Martin Luis Guzman. Caja 143, Exp., 8, Fojas 11. 322 Aurrecoechea and Bartra. Puros cuentos, Tomo II, 31. 323 Bartra, 308. 85

In the United States, the late 1930s featured comic books with new fusions between western and charro and revolutionary images. The characters were hybrids; the Wild West was replaced with the revolutionary and generous bandit. With the creation of the charro- revolutionary genre, Villa embodied a central figure that attracted attention, as exemplified by the 1950 Avon publication of the comic book, Pancho Villa.324 The introduction presented the

story of the greatest bad man rising from a peon to a bandit general and the legendary status of

Robin Hood of Mexico.325 The comic elaborated on Villa’s effort to defend his sister’s honor

when the local hacendado tried to take her. Escaping to the mountains, Villa was recruited by a

band of bandits and eventually became their leader. Unlike other bandits, Villa believed in social

justice, distributing half of his loot to the poor. According to the comic, when Villa’s mother

passed away, he was captured by the Mexican police and was about to be hanged when his supporters rescued him. By the time of the revolution, Francisco I. Madero recruited Villa and pardoned him of all past sins. Touching briefly on Villa’s near execution, prison, and escape in

1912, the next stage of the comic book described his rise to power in Mexico. The Columbus

raid was treated as a bank robbery that triggered the Punitive Expedition. Teasing the U.S. invaders, a segment showed Villa captured by U.S. forces; nevertheless, the general believed

Villa just another bandit. A disguised Villa taunted a U.S. soldier reassuring him that U.S. forces would capture their man one of these days. The theme of the crafty Villa who avoids capture is repeated time and time again in many cartoons and corridos.

324 Pancho Villa, AVON Periodicals, 1950, author’s collection. 325 Ibid., 1. 86

The golden years of Villa comic books: 1960s

In Mexico, comic artist Yolanda Vargas Dulché and Guillermo de la Parra formed a partnership in 1955 called Editorial Argumentos. Working together, they produced several

publications, among them Memín Pinguín and Lágrimas.326 Among many themes covered by the

editorial, one focused on historical biographies. Entitled Biografias Selectas, the 62nd edition

came out in January of 1960 and was dedicated to Francisco Villa. The cover of the comic book

featured a cartoon of Villa that resembled some of the photographs taken in 1911 by Jim

Alexander. Inside, the monochromatic comic introduced Villa as chief of the División del Norte,

a legendary man whose larger-than-life personality encompassed an extreme range of qualities,

including seemingly opposing traits like cruelty, idealism, and sentimentalism, qualities of both a

hero and bandit.327

As with other comics, Biografías selectas followed the harsh realities of Villa’s early

upbringing as a member of the peon class in the state of Durango. After the death of his father at

a young age, Villa was forced to work to help his mother provide for the rest of the family. In

this storyline, the landlord abducted one sister and then returned for the younger one. This was

the turning point that led Villa to take action and wound the landlord. Villa sought honest work,

but the authorities continued to force him into violence and banditry in response to the constant

persecution. Things changed in 1910 when Abraham González recruited Villa for the revolution.

Mostly accurate when compared to the historical record, the comic book narrated Villa´s rise

through the ranks: his successes at Torreón, Ciudad Juárez, Tierra Blanca, Ojinaga, as well as

326 Harold E. Hinds Jr. and Charles M. Tatum, Not Just for Children: the Mexican Comic Book in the Late 1960s and 1970s (Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press, 1992), 54. 327 Vargas Dulche and De la Parra, “Biografías selectas: Pancho Villa.” Año III. Num., 62 Enero 2, 1960, 1, author’s collection. 87

Villa’s close relationship with Felipe Ángeles and Emiliano Zapata. It contextualized the attack on Columbus as a reaction to Woodrow Wilson’s recognition of the Carranza government, but spoke little to the failure of the Punitive Expedition sent to hunt Villa down. Retired at Canutillo,

Villa enjoyed a peaceful life until his assassination in 1923.

The rise of Villa-themed comic books in the 1960s came at a time when the government officially sanctioned him as a revolutionary hero. Based on the sheer numbers of comic books produced on the topic in the 1960s, Villa and the División del Norte emerged as one of the most popular historical subjects. In another edition of Biografias selectas, Vargas Dulché and

Guillermo de la Parra wrote a spinoff series examining Villa’s elite soldiers, the Dorados. In the comic, the Dorados appeared as audacious, just, and cruel, a complicated and conflicting set of values worthy of the best of Villa´s troops. According to the comic, the Dorados screened their new recruits in extreme ways, such as testing for bravery via Russian roulette. The comic highlighted the case of Martín López, a 19-year-old recruit, whose bravery was tested in this game.328 This topic also appeared in Rafael F. Muńoz’s 1935 film Vámonos con Pancho Villa.

Although the Russian roulette stories expanded on a desirable legend, there is no truth behind the

Dorados recruitment story other than the name and the young age of Martin. General Martín

López joined early on and remained loyal until his untimely death in 1919. He was one of the

most important generals within the Dorados, but existing biographies makes no mention of dangerous games played for the shock value or the pleasure of causing death.329

328 Vargas Dulche and De la Parra, “Biografías selectas: Los Dorados de Villa.” Año IIII. Num., 153 Septiembre 30, 1961, author’s collection. 329 Alberto Calzadíaz Barrera, Anatomía de un guerrero: el general Martín López, hijo militar de Francisco Villa (México, D.F.: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A., 1968). 88

Achieving wide acceptance among readers, subsequent comic books looked more closely at Villa himself through a multi-edited series. In Leyendas de Pancho Villa, the editors invited their readers to live the adventures of the most audacious and fearless revolutionary. The comic book itself consisted of photographed actors whose imaged replaced their visually similar cartoon counterparts. The editors explained that while it was hard to find actors that resembled the image of Villa, using photographs gave the action more realism than cartoons. Why the editors considered this authentic element important remained unclear, but in these comics Villa was usually smiling. He presented little of the negative traits denounced by his detractors.

Looking at one edition, titled, El Ladrón, Villa always had a justification for killing someone. In this instance, two men tried to join Villa’s forces and through his intuition determined that the men were spies. While the story probably occurred between 1917 and 1919, the way it was represented illustrated a sound justification for killing the men.330 Some episodes included notes sent from readers from across Mexico thanking the editorial for the stories, sharing information, or asking about subscribing. These side notes offered a window into a wider distribution network and audience reception that expanded beyond the Mexican capital.331 In examining other

episodes, what became clear was that historical accuracy was blurred or non-existent, as the

revolution became a continuing struggle against the forces of injustice.

Popular culture as represented by comic books was another tool the Partido

Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) used as a vehicle for legitimization and modernization.332 In

this circumstance, the revolution no longer was the fight of the rural country folk, but rather

330 Guillermo Herrera Ibarrola, “Leyendas de Pancho Villa: el ladrón,” Impreso en Roto Sanchez, S.A., México D.F., No. 33, Año I. Mayo, 2, 1964, author’s collection. 331 Guillermo Herrera Ibarrola, “Leyendas de Pancho Villa: el triunfo de los pobres,” Impreso en Roto Sanchez, S.A., México D.F., No. 12, Año I, Diciembre 7, 1963, author’s collection. 332 Rubenstein, 76. 89 became a myth, embodied in the figure of great men. This phenomenon was exemplified by the series Estampas de la Revolución. This series used the revolution as a backdrop that fictionalized characters and places. In one rendition, a family was forced to receive two revolutionaries in their house. Soon thereafter, the guests found out the family was hiding their daughter after several days and kindly asked that she be let out of her room. The problems started the following day when the young girl awoke to find she had been raped overnight. Enraged, she killed both revolutionaries with a pistol. Toward the end, and as the girl goes mad, the comic identified the father as the actual rapist. The father justified his actions by saying one of the two revolutionaries was going to do it anyway.333

Following in the popularity of Francisco Villa and earlier publications, Editora de

Periódicos S.C.L. La Prensa published Cabalgando con Villa in 1964. Its author, Víctor Cejas

Reyes, published earlier in the decade two books dealing with Villa’s assassination.334 In the

comic books, the author examined the events leading up to the Punitive Expedition. In early

1916, troops headed by Pablo López detained and killed U.S. citizens in Santa Isabel,

Chihuahua, while in route to reopen silver mines. In La matanza de Sta. Isabel335 the comic book

used Colonel Tompkins’s Chasing Villa, and mentioned Villa’s kindness to the U.S. before

1915.336 Despite the violence, the comic book took an apologetic attitude towards Villa. Along

the same lines, Sin tiempo para la patria showed Villa’s troops entering Parral to rest for three

333 Guillermo Herrera Ibarrola, “Estampas de la Revolución: La Convención de Aguascalientes,” Editora de Publicaciones Ilustradas, S. A., México, D.F., No. 18, Año 1, Junio 3, 1964, author’s collection. 334 “Cabalgando con Villa” and “Yo maté a Villa” both by La Prensa. (1961 and 1960 respectively). 335 Victor Cejas Reyes, “Cabalgando con Villa: la matanza de Sta. Isabel,” Editora de Periodicos S.C.L. La Prensa. No. 3, Marzo 31, 1964, author’s collection. 336 Before 1915, Villa was viewed by the U.S. government as most likely to control Mexico and most favorable to U.S. interest. Villa had allowed U.S. interest to operate in northern Mexico, but in 1915 the U.S. recognized Venustiano Carranza and also allowed him to move troops through El Paso in order to reinforce Agua Prieta. This lead to Villa’s defeat and the realization that he was no further bound to protect U.S. interests in Mexico. 90 days. The comic started by asserting the bravery of the local people who confronted the Punitive

Expedition in Parral. Afterwards, Villa visited a barbershop and nearly executed the owner because he was not part of the citizen’s movement that rejected the U.S. troops. In this episode, the storyline placed the blame not with Villa, but rather the barber for his cowardly attitude.

Based on a true story, this comic book remarked on Villa’s sense of humanity that at times turned into anger.

In comparing Leyendas de Pancho Villa and Cabalgando con Villa, the latter maintained a greater sense of historical accuracy. One comic, entitled ¡La Palabra de Villa! narrated an actual incident that occurred around 1919 when Felipe Ángeles briefly returned to Villa’s side after living in exile for a few years. The comic recounted how two men arrived at the camp, wanting to join the revolutionaries. Their arrival aroused Villa’s suspicions; he began asking the men about their hometowns. Unsatisfied with their answers, Villa decided to hang one of the men over Ángeles’s objections. Ángeles did not understand Villa’s motives until the surviving man told the revolutionaries of a plot to assassinate Villa. He also confessed that a third recruit would arrive in the evening to inquire about joining Villa’s troops. Ángeles offered his apologies to Villa, letting the man go to warn against other assassins.337 This story was confirmed by José

Maria Jaurrieta in his biography of Villa, adding the event took place at Santa Gertrudis. The

comic explained that Villa choose one man over another because the one that was hanged was

brave since he refused to confess.338

337 Víctor Ceja Reyes, “Cabalgando con Villa: ¡La palabra de Villa!,” Editora de Periódicos S.C.L. La Prensa. No. 8, Octubre 31, 1964, author’s collection. 338 José María Jaurrieta, Con Villa (1916-1920), Memorias de campaña (México D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 2009), 167-169. 91

Another series that claimed to represent real-life episodes was Hechos reales de Villa y sus Dorados. An episode entitled El enemigo related the same story line about the failed assassination at Santa Gertrudis.339 The editors based their storylines on Elias Torres’s Vida y

hazañas de Pancho Villa, and Martín Luis Guzmán’s Memorias de Pancho Villa. Again, these

stories were taken from historical events, but crafted to show a positive image of Villa.340

Covering a wide range of topics, the episodes included the incident with Giuseppe Garibaldi’s troops in 1911, Villa’s near execution in 1912, and Villa’s escape from jail in December of 1912.

Nevertheless, the series did not present a unified revolutionary vision. La Rebelión, for example, focused on Villa’s attack on Zacatecas. In 1914, Venustiano Carranza sent Pánfilo Natera to attack the heavily fortified mountainous city; the attack failed. With Villa and the División del

Norte stationed at Torreón, a substantial telegraph exchange ensued. Jealous of Villa’s popularity, Carranza used telegraphs to try to stop the División del Norte from attacking

Zacatecas. Villa’s generals, especially Felipe Ángeles, convinced him to resume control and continue on to Zacatecas. This tension played out in the comic book and highlighted the power struggles that existed among revolutionary forces.341

In some comics, Villa served as a backdrop for other stories. In El Remington, a fictional

character bearing physical resemblance to actor Pedro Armendáriz participated in Western-style

adventures. In one episode, Remington hunted for buried treasure. Upon finding the treasure, a

fight between treasure hunters erupted over the uncovered box, leaving only the protagonist and

his female companion alive. The box did not contain gold, but rather documents showing that

339 Jorge Casamayor, “Hechos reales de Villa y sus Dorados: el enemigo,” Ediciones Joma, México, D.F., No. 2, Junio 28, 1965, author’s collection. 340 Jorge Casamayor, “Hechos reales de Villa y sus Dorados,” Ediciones Joma, México, D.F., No. 9, Agosto 16, 1965, author’s collection. 341 Jorge Casamayor, “Hechos reales de Villa y sus Dorados: la rebelión,” Ediciones Joma, Mexico, D.F., No. 23, Noviembre 22, 1965, author’s collection. 92

Victoriano Huerta had ordered Francisco Madero’s death. The second part of the comic book chronicled the early life of Doroteo Arango and how he became a revolutionary after joining a gang and taking the name of the dead bandit Francisco Villa. One day, a messenger arrived at the camp and asked for Villa who, after some hesitation, delivered his message from Abraham

González. Villa saw in González a man with such enterprise and drive that he respected him profoundly for investing his own resources in the revolution.342 In another episode, Villa

outwitted a woman out to poison him.343

Following the fame of Villa’s movies in Europe, comic books such as Le Triomphe de

Pancho Villa were produced in Italy and distributed in France. The storyline was taken from

Ismael Rodríguez, the producer of Así era Pancho Villa, who was favorable towards the image

of Villa in all three movies starring actor Pedro Armendáriz. The comic was a photo-novel that

started with Villa’s recruitment by Abraham González in 1910 and spun stories that emphasized

Villa’s positive side344 until his assassination in 1923.345 The covers of both comic books

blended imagery of the Mexican revolutionary and the U.S. cowboy.

During the late 1960s in Mexico, a new single edition comic book entitled, Aventuras de

la vida real told the story of Villa from cradle to grave. The storyline emphasized the social

inequalities that existed prior to 1910 and the repression the Porfirian government implemented

to keep peace. Within this social turmoil, Villa avenged his family’s honor by attacking a

landowner and then fled to the countryside where he learned to be a bandit out of necessity. The

342 Jorge Quiroz Ortega, “El Remington y además Pancho Villa y sus Dorados,” Ediciones Latinoamericanas, Época I, Año 1, No. 19-30-III, México D.F., 1970, author’s collection. 343 Jorge Quiroz Ortega, “El Remington y Además Pancho Villa y sus Dorados,” Ediciones Latinoamericanas, Época I, Año 1, No. 21, April 13, 1970, author’s collection. 344 Franco Bozzesi, “Pancho Villa,” Editeur IN.GRA.B.E. S.p.A. 93, Via Galla Placidia, Rome, Italy, 4e Annee – N. 66, Avrill 11, 1964, author’s collection. 345 Franco Bozzesi, “Le Triomphe de Pancho Villa,” Editeur IN.GRA.B.E. S.p.A. 93, Via Galla Placidia, Rome, Italy, 4e Annee – N. 68, Mai 9, 1964, author’s collection. 93 comic further highlighted Villa’s kindness to people, especially the children who grew up in extreme poverty. The events of Columbus received no attention and his guerrilla years were overlooked. The comic ended with Villa’s assassination and his ghost jumping from his grave.346

Comics and Cartoons after the 1980s and Onward

With Villa officially part of the national pantheon of revolutionary heroes by the late

1970s, comic books continued to uphold his image. One comic, ¿Quién Fue Pancho Villa? was a

copy of Biografías selectas published in the early 1960s by Guillermo de Parra.347 The following

year, Editorial VID, S.A. de C.V. also published Muertes trágicas and incorporated the story of

John Reed and his participation in the revolution. Reed was a U.S. journalist and socialist widely

known for his narrative of the Russian Revolution, who also visited Mexico and is. The comic

narrated Reed’s earlier years, then described his interests in workers’ rights and social justice.

When the revolution broke out in Mexico, Reed went to search for the forces of Villa at Ojinaga.

From here, the narrative borrowed from Reed’s Insurgent Mexico up until the battle for Torreón.

Villa’s role was minimal, but significant as Reed acknowledged Villa’s ideological values and

valor in leading men into battle. In the comic, Pascual Orozco’s Colorados take an antagonistic

role in their aggressiveness and brutality while Villa’s forces represent the downtrodden seeking

justice. The comic ended with the seizure of Torreón, and Reed riding on to his next

adventure.348

346 Alfredo Cardona Pena, “Aventuras de la vida real: Pancho Villa, el centauro del norte,” Organización Editorial Novaro, S.A., Año XIV No. 163, Julio 1, 1969, author’s collection. 347 Guillermo de la Parra, “¿Quien fue…? Pancho Villa,” Editorial VID, S.A. de C.V., Año II, No. 74, April 2, 1982, author’s collection. 348 Guillermo de la Parra, “Muertes trágicas, John Reed: tras el fuego libertario,” Editorial VID, S.A. de C.V., Año XII, No. 618, March 11, 1983, author’s collection. 94

Following the style of incorporating Villa as a less central figure in a broader narrative, in

1982 the Secretaria de Educación partnered with Editorial Nueva Imagen and published México, historia de un pueblo. The comic book series consisted of twenty episodes, vignettes of Mexico’s history. In episode nineteen, the storyline centered on Villa and his División del Norte through a fictionalized character called Delfina Chavira from Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. When word spread in spring of 1913 that Villa had returned to avenge the death of Francisco I. Madero,

Delfina and her brother decided to join the revolution. After catching up to the revolutionary forces, the siblings asked to join the battalion. Villa interviewed them. Reacting to the implication that Delfina should have walked in order to not overburden the horse, the female protagonist defended herself, pointing out that other women played many roles within the camp.

Responding to her bravery, Villa reached for his belt and handed her his gun. As the story goes,

Delfina fell in love with a fellow revolutionary and formed a bond with other women who faced similar hardships during the war. Delfina fought alongside men, proving her bravery in critical instances. She also suffered the death of her lover and the disappearance of her brother until she herself was almost killed from a shell explosion.

Awakening in the hospital, Delfina recovered and found her brother was alive, but discovered that he had betrayed the División del Norte and switched sides. In anger, Delfina confronted him and placed Villa’s gun on the table, reminding him why they joined in the first place and implying what he should do. Illustrating that loyalty to the revolution came even before family, her brother took the gun and committed suicide. This message of loyalty was reinforced at the end of the story when Delfina had settled down with a doctor and was expecting a child. In the final line of the comic, she reminded her husband that their unborn child would be

95 a soldier of the División del Norte.349 Editor Paco Ignacio Taibo II empowered Delfina to

illustrate not only how women participated in the revolution, but also their suffering and

endurance. Also, by centering on the División del Norte and not Villa directly, the comic moved

the readership into visualizing the revolution as a collective struggle.

In the U.S., the image of Villa appeared in another comic book, Abraham Stone. In this

rendition, the title character found himself caught up in revolutionary Mexico when he was

mugged near the border. Borrowing from western-style comics, a Native American family saved

Abraham after they found him near death. On their way to Mexico, Abraham met up with Villa’s

forces. Initially despised by Villa, the young man later proved his worth when the revolutionaries

needed an airplane pilot. The latter part of the story recounted the Columbus raid and had Villa

himself leading the attack with 800 men, pillaging the population. When Abraham refused to

participate, Villa shot him and left him for dead. Upon awakening, Abraham crawled to a nearby

machine gun and began firing upon the Villistas.350 In retrospect, the editors of the comic book

treated the revolution like a western, by portraying the Mexicans as immoral murderers who lacked ideology. The landscape imagery resembled that of western strips rather than others that depicted northern Mexico. The narrative was historically misleading, because it placed Villa at the heart of the Columbus raid. No sources confirmed this.351

One of the last comic book series that featured Villa emerged in the late 1990s and early

2000s: ¡Viva Villa! It shared many of the styles and conventions that its predecessors

incorporated in the blend of charro and western idealization of the revolution. Starting with a

349 Paco Ignacio Taibo II and Sealtiel Alatriste Lozano, México, historia de un pueblo: Tomo 19: Los Dorados (México D.F.: Editorial Nueva Imagen, S.A. y Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo, 1982). 350 “Abraham Stone,” Vol. 1, No. 2, August 1995. Epic Comics. New York, author’s collection. 351 Guadalupe Villa, “ Impresiones personales: el destino de los prisioneros villistas después del ataque a Columbus,” presented at Patton and Pancho: a Clash of Cultures, Tucson, AZ, March 11, 2016. 96 young Villa, the comic elaborated on the problems that forced him into banditry in the first place.

This version and the narratives from previous decades differed in that it highlighted stories of

Villa’s sexual exploits, yet another aspect of his persona. In these comics, the authors shrouded historical facts in a machismo that uplifted the image of Villa as a man forced into dangerous situations in which he nonetheless emerged victorious.

Consisting of various episodes, these comic books dedicated several editions to Villa’s early life. After injuring the local landowner for seducing his sister, the young Villa escaped only to be captured and sent to prison in Durango’s capital. Once there, Villa caught the eye of a widow who protected him.352 Narrowly avoiding capture again, Villa headed to the mountains

and sought refuge with Ignacio Parra. Ambushed, the Rurales gunned down Parra while Villa

managed to escape to a nearby Mormon community.353 There, Villa lived in peace, but

eventually left after being offered the hands of several widows as potential new wives. Villa did

not object to the idea of having multiple wives, but rather the many children for which he would

be responsible.354 In another edition, the comic narrates how Villa obtained his name, as his

birth name was Doroteo Arango.

According to the comic, when Doroteo Arango encountered Pancho Villa, they shared

reputations as bandits. Together, they decided to attack a stagecoach. While Doroteo survived,

Villa succumbed to his bullet wounds. To confuse the authorities, Doroteo buried the dead

Pancho Villa and marked the gravestone with his own name. In this moment, the young man

352 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 2, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Diciembre 24, 1999, author’s collection. 353 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 4, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Enero 21, 2000, author’s collection. 354 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 5, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Febrero 4, 2000, author’s collection. 97 transformed from Doroteo Arango to Francisco Villa.355 After recovering from his wounds, the

born-again Villa headed to Casas Grandes, where he met Tomás Urbina and joined him as an

associate of a butcher shop. In the evenings, while Urbina was at the bar, Villa went to the park

and talked to men about the injustices of Mexico and the proximity of upcoming events.356

Resettled in Chihuahua’s capital, Villa opened up a butcher shop and brought his brothers and sisters to live in Chihuahua. There, one of Villa’s brothers, Antonio went to a rally against

Porfirio Díaz and was shot dead, enraging Villa.357 This twist in the story implied that Villa

joined the revolution to avenge the death of his brother Antonio. The memoirs of Luz Corral,

Villa’s wife, indicated that Antonio Villa died in in 1913, but not as a result of his participation

in an anti-Díaz rally. 358

Recruited by Abraham González, Villa searched for supporters in Chihuahua. In the

meantime, Villa got married.359 Now a revolutionary, Villa joined forces with Pascual Orozco to

attack Chihuahua. Encountering stiff resistance, Villa left a small force there and took Ciudad

Juárez by surprise. Against the wishes of Francisco I. Madero, Villa decided to load a train with

two hundred men and head to the border for a surprise attack.360 The story, however, suffered

from historical inaccuracy. While Orozco and Villa did head the attack on Ciudad Juárez in May

of 1911, the story the comic book placed Villa’s surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez in November

355 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 6, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Febrero 18, 2000, author’s collection. 356 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 7, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Marzo 3, 2000, author’s collection. 357 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 9, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Marzo 31, 2000, author’s collection. 358 Luz Corral mentions in her memoirs that Antonio’s widow lived with her for a while. Luz Corral de Villa, Pancho Villa en la intimidad (México, D.F., 1948), 88-89. 359 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 13, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Mayo 26, 2000, author’s collection. 360 Jaime Flores Montiel, “!Viva Villa!,” Año 1, No. 17, Editorial Toukan, S.A. de C.V., Junio 22, 1999, author’s collection. 98 of 1913. By then, Orozco had already separated from Villa, and the revolution was in another stage, combating the usurper Victoriano Huerta. In a wider context, the literary freedoms that cartoonists and editorials took with these revolutionary stories created historical discrepancies.

With no new comic books in production about Villa after the !Viva Villa! series, a publication by Paco Taibo II and Hector de la Garza-Batorzki commemorated the battle for

Zacatecas, Eko revived the image of Villa. Presented in black and white, Pancho Villa toma

Zacatecas centered on a battle from June of 1914. Narrated by a fictional character named

Coronel Montejo, the comic started with the movement of troops from Torreón to a position near

Zacatecas. The comic set the scene by presenting major characters and the final preparations before Villa’s arrival. Taibo devoted a portion of the book to confronting some of Villa’s myths while perpetuating others. One myth Taibo perpetuated resided in his assertion that Villa never slept in the same place twice. While legend holds that Villa used to wander off so people did not know where he slept, it is impossible to ascertain this claim after ten years of revolutionary struggle. Taibo also claimed that Villa signed a deal with the devil. Taibo has defended this claim, asserting that no one was there to corroborate the story. The mere mention of this story in

Taibo ´s work perpetuated the many narratives about Villa´s life that remain either clearly apocryphal or impossible to fact-check.361

361 Eko de la Garza and Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Pancho Villa Toma Zacatecas (México, D.F.: Editorial Sexto Piso, 2013), 139. 99

Conclusion

Comic books allowed for a generalized consumption of images, facts, and information

that transformed reality through their visual narrative interpretations of reality that represented

the ideology of the writers, illustrators, and editors.362 Stories in comic books were written about

the past, but narrated through the ethics of the author’s time. They allowed the reader to

understand the values and ethics of the narrative, in this case as contemporary readers imagining

themselves as part of the national myth of the Mexican Revolution.363 In this regard, when

people appropriated goods, they defined what society considered valuable and became integrated

and distinguished in society by combining pragmatism and pleasure.364 Applied to popular

culture, the reconstruction of memories developed into what in reality was the pressure of society

to create a cult of the past.365 In this way, popular culture, through the vehicle of comic books,

did not preserve the past, but constructed it with the aid of the material traces, rites, text, and

traditions left behind by that past, and with the aid of psychological and social data, that is to say,

with the present.366 Here, within this constructed realm, comic books transmitted new

perceptions of Francisco Villa and his Dorados to wide audiences.

With this in mind some conclusions regarding the transformation of Villa’s image

through comic books can be made. The initial cartoon from 1912 captured the essence of Villa

and his great loyalty to Abraham González and the common folk. Later political cartoons

interpreted the image of Villa within the understanding of the cartoonist and their own

362 Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society: Myth and Structures, (London; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998), 33. 363 Ibid., 5. 364 Néstor García Canclini, Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), 20. 365 Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 51. 366 Ibid., 119. 100 background. The cartoons of Villa produced in the 1910s became a necessity for a growing audience interested in learning more about Villa and his exploits as they were unfolding. For example, comparing Leslie’s magazine covers from December 1913 and May 1916, leads to two different interpretations of Villa. In the earlier edition, Villa was gallantly presented as the salvation of Mexico against Victoriano Huerta. In the latter edition, Villa had sparked a Punitive

Expedition that led interested parties to spend most of 1916 hunting for him. These depictions of

Villa in political cartoons reflected media perceptions during the same time. In the comic book realm, these stories emerged after Villa’s death in 1923. Initially drawing inspiration from Elias

L. Torres, who knew Villa and wrote about him, subsequent comic artists picked and chose from other sources, and fictionalized the rest for the sake of entertainment.

Later publications spoke positively and apologetically about Villa. The diverse stories analyzed from comics of the 1950s onward usually chose stories that highlighted the bravery of

Villa’s men and justified the assassinations and acts of violence he committed. In this context,

Villa as a historical figure became increasingly distorted as each subsequent edition rendered new interpretations by editors and cartoonists. The wide circulation of comics pertaining to Villa or the División del Norte in the 1960s coincided with other efforts to recognize Villa as an official hero of the revolution. In the canon of historical figures and comic books, Villa´s popularity was surpassed only by that of the lucha libre hero El Santo. El Santo, owed his vast popularity to a movie genre made popular by the luchador La Sombra Vengadora in a 1954 movie entitled El tesoro de Pancho Villa.

Government officials authorized the surge of Villa comic books in the 1960s. The revolution emerged as a popular theme among readers because of its inherent violence, drama, and patriotism. Nevertheless all stories needed approval by the Comisión Calificadora de

101

Publicaciones y Revistas Ilustradas (CCPRI), created by President Ávila Camacho in 1944 as part of the Secretaría de Educación Pública.367 In one instance, La Verdadera Historia de Pancho

Villa met with unusual resistance from the classifying commission for its distortion of historical

facts. In response, its editors added footnotes and bibliographies to their issues.368 In the 1960s,

government officials finally incorporated Villa into the pantheon of revolutionary leaders by

putting his name with gold letters on the walls of Congress, with those of other revolutionary

leaders. In the 1970s, his remains were moved from Parral, Chihuahua to Mexico City. By the

1980s and 1990s the mythical aspects of Villa´s story had solidified; the myth now was used and

reused, consumed and re-consumed by people, as it allows them to believe that by consuming

Villa they form part of a greater community in Mexico or northern Mexico. As the 1930s and

1940s progressed, the revolutionaries became mixed with charros and westerns that resembled

the Lone Ranger more than their historical counterparts. However, Mexican fictional characters

did not aspire to be cowboys like Buffalo Bill, but rather the legendary Francisco Villa, known

for his braveness, womanizing, and violence, but also his sense of rudimentary justice.369

367 Rubenstein, 110-127. 368 Rubenstein, 137. 369 Ibid., 152. 102

CHAPTER IV Pancho Villa Movie Star

“The business of Gen. Villa will be to provide moving picture thrillers in any way that is consistent with his plans to depose and drive Huerta out of Mexico, and the business of Mr. Aitken, the other partner, will be to distribute the resulting films throughout the peaceable sections of Mexico and to the United States and Canada.” New York Times, January 7, 1914370

Francisco Villa inspired a number of films that celebrated and portrayed him as an enduring romantic hero.371 As with other forms of popular entertainment, film through multifaceted interpretations transformed Villa into a national and international symbol of the

Mexican Revolution.372 During the 1960s, Government leaders took great measures to ensure

circulation of positive images of Villa because they recognized the importance of film in shaping

historical narratives.373 In the case of Villa, he was filmed, photographed, and written about by

international journalists, filmmakers, novelists, and political figures.374

Diverse groups of people worked to create Villa’s image; various groups in society used

film to appropriate or create a devotion that surrounded the image of the former revolutionary

370 “Villa at the front; ‘movies’ sign him up,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 1914. 371 Niamh Thornton, Revolution and Rebellion in Mexican Film (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 25. 372 Zuzana M. Pick, Constructing the Image of the Mexican Revolution (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010), 6. 373 Margarita de Orellana, Filming Pancho Villa: How Hollywood Shaped the Mexican Revolution (London- New York: Verso, 2009), 2. 374 Sergio de la Mora, Cinemachismo: Masculinities and Sexualities in Mexican Film (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006), 8. 103 leader. An admirer, for example, could craft memories from old photographs and false memories designed to invent and maintain a past that never really happened.375

Villa’s image evolved through the lens of film from the 1910’ until recent productions of

the current decade This examination allows for an understanding of how the image of Villa was

crafted and re-fashioned through the decades as cinema evolved in both Mexico and the United

States. Four sections deal with the different stages in the evolution of Villa’s image.

A Film Legacy

Most national and foreign films represented the revolution as a spectacular folk-show.376

Cinematographers filmed civic ceremonies, military parades, trips, sport events, and the violence

in Mexico and then tried to sell the negatives in the United States.377 Insurrección en México

when the forces of Francisco I. Madero were stationed on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez,

Chihuahua, in April of 1911, was one of the earliest documentaries to show Villa.378 The

footage showed Villa, following the example of Pascual Orozco and Giuseppe Garibaldi giving

orders to his troops,379 Juárez After the Battle was filmed in May 1911, when Madero’s forces

captured the city. The film was shown at both the Bijou and Wigwam theaters in El Paso on June

27, 1911. The picture, in two reels, showed bullet- riddled buildings with swarms of people fighting caught on camera.380 While Villa appeared in these early films about the revolution, his

375 Serge Gruzinski, Images at War: Mexico from Columbus to Blade Runner (1492-2019) (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2001), 1, 100. 376 de la Mora, 143. 377 Juan Felipe Leal and Aleksandra Jablonska. La Revolución mexicana en el cine estadounidense, 1911-1921 (México D.F.: Juan Pablos Editor, S.A., Voyeur, 2014), 15. 378 Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro, “Mitologías cinematográficas de Pancho Villa,” presentado en XIII Reunión de Historiadores de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá, Queretaro México, 30 de Octubre, 2010. 379 Aurelio de Los Reyes, Filmografía del cine mexicano 1896-1920 (México D.F.: UNAM, 1986), 66. 380 “Juárez pictures today,” El Paso Herald, June 27, 1911. 104 appearance as a secondary figure revealed that he was not yet gained a reputation as a famed and generous bandit. He started to receive media attention after the División del Norte was organized and successfully launched an attack on Torreón in October of 1913. The Mutual Film

Corporation filmed Attack on Chihuahua on location on November 2. The attack failed on

Chihuahua, but was followed by Villa’s surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez just a few days later.381

Seizing on the surprise attack, Mutual Film’s competitor, Thomas Edison’s Kalem Company, was among the first to report on the devastation of the city in the early morning of November 15,

1913, in a 500-foot reel titled, War Ridden Juárez.382 These films became a reason of Villa’s growing international popularity from the early triumphs of the División del Norte.

With the road to Chihuahua’s capital clear after the battle of Ciudad Juárez and Tierra

Blanca a few days later, the Mutual Film Corporation filmed Take Over of Chihuahua that

included scenes of Villa, Maclovio Herrera, Toribio Ortega, and José Rodríguez entering the

capital that Manuel Chao and Orestes Pereyra had previously occupied.383 Towards the end of

1913, Villa’s agents, seeing the interest of movie crews, asked if any would be interested in

following them in exchange for escort, transport, food, and a 50 percent profit from the films.

Only the Mutual Film Corporation showed interest and sent Frank M. Thayer to negotiate and

sign a contract with Villa for $25,000.384 With news about the movie deal reaching Europe,385 the

New York Times reported the contract and also informed readers that Villa delayed his final attack over Ojinaga, Chihuahua, to allow a film crew to arrive in time. The article mentioned

381 Aurelio de los Reyes, Con Villa en México (México D.F.: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas UNAM, 2010), 389; Leal and Jablonska, 230. 382 Leal and Jablonska, 91. 383 de los Reyes, Con Villa en México, 389. 384 de Orellana,43. 385 “Jets over Villa’s ‘movies’,” New York Times, January 9, 1914. 105

Villa’s willingness to stage battles if the footage of the fighting was of poor quality.386 In reality,

the final attack over Ojinaga took place at night.387

With a squad of moving picture men at Ojinaga headed by Carl von Hoffman,388 the film

showed Villa smiling as he led his troops into battle and afterwards.389 Unfortunately, as the New

York Times pointed out, the battle took place at night, so the crew failed to record footage of the

battle. The audience at the New York screening counted among its attendees Francisco Madero

Sr., the father of slain President Francisco I. Madero. At one point during the screening, Madero

Sr. became consumed with concern when he saw his son Raúl Madero because he did not know

his son was fighting alongside the Villistas.390 At Ojinaga, John Davidson Wheelan took a

photograph in which Villa galloped on his horse Siete Leguas towards him. It instantly found

publication in U.S. and European magazines. Today, Wheelan’s photo remains the most iconic

photograph of the revolutionary leader on his horse.391

With ongoing documentary footage being filmed by Mutual Film, the corporation also let

spectators know that it planned a movie featuring the life of Villa.392 Other shorts made during

this period included Abrahám Gonzalez Funeral from February, Villa Meets Representative of the State Department George C. Carothers and Villa Meets Carranza in Chihuahua, both from

April of 1914.393 In preparation for the release of Villa’s movie, Mutual Film reported that Villa

386 “Admits he’s a ‘movie’ star: Villa delays Ojinaga attack for operators’ arrival,” The New York Times, Jan. 8, 1914. 387 Juan Manuel Aurrecoechea, La revolución en el espejo de la caricatura estadounidense, (México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Segunda Edición, 2012), 116-117. 388 de los Reyes, Con Villa en México, 390. 389 “Villa at the front; ‘movies’ sign him up,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 1914. 390 “The Villa movies shock aged Madero,” New York Times, Jan. 23, 1914. 391 John Mraz, Fotografiar la revolución mexicana (México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2010), 230. 392 de los Reyes, Con Villa en México, 387. 393 Ibid., 386-389. 106 had already posed for preliminary shots in an agricultural scene.394 Another newspaper noted the

participation of Villa himself in the most important battles fought under his command.395 The

Life of General Villa premiered at New York’s Lyric Theater on May 9 and contrasted the image

of Villa as a bandit by vindicating him. The film crew followed Villa from Ojinaga through

Gómez Palacio, Ciudad Lerdo, Torreón, San Pedro de la Cueva, and Saltillo.396

The Life of General Villa (1914) was directed by William Christy Cabanne and featured two reels of battles and six of acting by Raoul Walsh in the leading role of the young Villa. The movie started with a sequence of documentary shorts from the Battle of Torreón that showed footage of Villa. In the second part, played by actors, the film narrated the story of how Villa lived with his sister in a small town. One day, two army officials arrived and raped Villa’s sister, who died in his arms shortly after he arrived at the scene. Killing one of the soldiers, Villa was forced into banditry and became the scourge of northern Mexico. In 1910, Villa joined the fight to avenge his hated enemy in the federal army. The final battle at Torreón became a showdown between Villa and the officer who had raped his sister. After Villa’s success, he was proclaimed as president of Mexico.397 The film, the only fictional piece made during the revolution about

one of its leaders, shaped a narrative about Villa that positioned him as a righteous freedom

fighter.

The Life of General Villa fits the Western genre because its protagonist follows an

unwritten code of bravery, loyalty, and honor. This code vindicated Villa’s image, despite his

moral shortcomings.398 The movie’s success was due in part to the participation of talented

394 “Gossip of Movie Plays and Players,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Apr. 12, 1914. 395 “Photoplay News,” The Washington Post, Apr. 26, 1914 396 Leal and Jablonska, 97. 397 Miguel, 51-52. 398 Ibid., 52. 107 cinematographers and actors.399 In the United States, moviegoers interpreted the film as a

narration of historic events pertaining to the birth of a new nation.400 The film also premiered at

the Shaftesbury Pavilion in London with good reviews.401 Back in Chihuahua, Villa entertained

guests with screenings of the flattering films provided to him by Mutual.402 The Life of General

Villa became the exception, rather than the norm of portraying Mexicans in U.S. films. Another

contemporary movie, Shorty’s Trip to Mexico (1914), showed conflicts between revolutionaries

and North Americans as simplified instances of robbing, pillaging, and engaging in stereotypical

denigrating Mexican behavior.403

In Mexico, each revolutionary group had its own photographers: among the Villistas, two

of the most prominent were the Cachú brothers. Antonio Cachú joined the Sanitary Brigade

because of his medical studies and his brother Juan took photographs and followed Villa for a

time until Constitutionalists captured him.404 The entrance of Villa and Zapata in Mexico City

was filmed, showing their procession towards the National Palace. There, Villa and Zapata posed

for pictures as the former sat in the presidential chair. These became among the most widely

circulated photographs of the revolution. Popular photographers of the time Antonio Garduño

and Manuel Ramos each took a photograph.405

In the spring of 1915, Villa endured significant defeats at León and Celaya, forcing the

División del Norte back to Chihuahua where it disbanded in December. After these defeats, no

one in the United States wanted to be associated with Villa; magazine reporters William Christy

399 Leal and Jablonska, 45. 400 Ibid., 80. 401 de Orellana, 64. 402 Ibid., 70. 403 Miguel, 53. 404 Mraz, 172. 405 Ibid., 234-238. 108

Cabanne and Raoul Walsh made no mention of The Life of General Villa.406 Beginning in 1916,

news of Villa became sensational because of the execution of U.S. miners near Santa Isabel,

Chihuahua. Then, on the morning of March 9, Villa’s forces raided the community of Columbus,

New Mexico, prompting a U.S. Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Tracy Mathewson was the first

cameraman to arrive at Columbus after the raid, capturing the devastation of the still-smoking

buildings. The Eagle Film Manufacturing Company of Chicago promised newsreels with the

headline Villa-Dead or Alive, claiming 1,000 to 2,000 feet of weekly action footage for

moviegoers. Other documentaries followed under different titles, such as Following the Flag in

Mexico, Villa at Any Cost, With Villa in Mexico, and Stars and Stripes in Mexico.407 Most

showed the movement of U.S. troops across northern Chihuahua in unsuccessful pursuit of Villa.

During this time, several fictional pieces referenced Villa. The Jaguar’s Claws from

1917, for example, featured Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa as a Mexican bandit nicknamed

Jaguar with a reputation for being a womanizer who ruled northern Mexico through fear.408 The fourth installment of Liberty: A Daughter of the U.S.A. by Universal depicted the Columbus Raid in New Mexico and ended with a fictional full-scale invasion of Mexico by the United States.

Advocating intervention after several other border towns were raided, the U.S. citizens in film were forced to found a new protectorate to reestablish order.409 The message of intervention

embedded in these fictional pieces was also found in other forms of mass media of the time, most

notably political cartoons.410

406 de los Reyes, 70. 407 de los Reyes, 72-74. 408 Dominique Brégen-Heald, Borderland Films: American Cinema, Mexico and Canada during the Progressive Era (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015), 253. 409 Ibid., 256. 410 For a further discussion on political cartoons and Francisco Villa refer to chapter 3. 109

In February of 1917, the last of the Punitive Expeditionary forces left Mexico without capturing Villa. For the next few years, Villa engaged in guerrilla warfare that yielded no identifiable footage. Sherman Martin was the last member from the Mutual Film Corporation to return to the United States. He accompanied Villa from Ojinaga to Saltillo, returning shortly after filming the occupation of U.S. forces at Tampico in May of 1914. Only in 1920 when Carranza was overthrown and Villa was able to negotiate amnesty that cameramen caught him on film again, in Sabinas, Coahuila. The surviving footage showed Villa with General Eugenio Martínez talking and smoking a cigar, while in another scene both men are shown eating together with other revolutionaries. Retired from public life, Villa focused his attention on reconstructing

Canutillo, a hacienda granted to him by President Adolfo de la Huerta. At Canutillo, Villa was approached by Francisco Elías to produce a film entitled Epopeya. When filming finished, the government prohibited its screening and ordered the destruction of the negative. In an unpublished biography, Elías mentioned receiving funding from a unknown businessman who lived in El Paso, Texas. Fragments of this film would be used as background shots for the 1935 film Villa Villa! starring Wallace Beery.411

Villa at Canutillo, released in August of 1920 was filmed by Otis A. Aultman for Pathé

News, which promoted the film as the first anyone had seen of the revolutionary leader in four

years. Aultman told reporters that Villa refused to allow himself or his men to cooperate with the

filming. Aultman only was able to capture some scenes of Villa and his camp through a Mexican

cameraman.412 His footage showed Villa at San Pedro de las Colonias at the time of surrender,

411 de Orellana, 95-96. 412 “Pathe Cameraman Has Thrilling Time Getting Exclusive ‘Shots’ of Villa,” Moving Picture World, Chalmers Publishing Company, New York, Vol. 46, Sep-Oct 1920, 241. http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movpicwor461movi_0373 110 not in Canutillo.413 After Villa’s assassination in 1923, several documentary films appeared:

Francisco Villa o historia auténtica de Francisco Villa y su trágica muerte en Parral by

Salvador Toscano and Antonio F. Ocañas, Francisco Villa o verdadera historia de Francisco

Villa (filmed by successors of Enrique Rosas) and Vida, hechos y hazañas de Francisco Villa de

1910 a 1923, exhibited throughout Mexico between August and October of 1923.414 Before his

death, Villa had allegedly turned down an offer to play himself in a film directed by Miguel

Contreras Torres entitled, Los dorados, or El terror del desierto.415 Years later, Torres produces

Revolución (La revolución de Pancho Villa) (1932), the first sound feature film to be made on

the revolution. The movie was received with criticism, dismissed as propaganda, and ended up

being a commercial flop.416

In 1928, a movie was produced in the United States called El Robin Hood mexicano or El

Robin Hood de México. The movie was produced by Antonio Fernández and starred Chano

Urueta as the young Villa and Pedro Valenzuela as the adult title character. Premiered on June

30, 1928, the movie lasted 50 minutes and featured both scenes taken in Chihuahua and in a

Hollywood studio.417 In El Paso, Texas, brothers Felix and Edmundo Padilla produced and

showed La venganza de Pancho Villa, created from recycled bits and pieces of other movies, that

end with a one of the first re-enactments of Villa’s assassination.418 The movie showed a vehicle

crossing a bridge when several men began shooting as the driver swerve to the right. The

following scene showed the actors in the same position in which Villa and his secretary were

413 de los Reyes, 240. 414 de la Vega Alfaro, 1-2. 415 Ibid., 2, n 2,: “de los Reyes says that Contreras might have had two projects involving the figure of Villa in 1921,” [translation mine]. 416 Thornton, 19. 417 de la Vega Alfaro, 3. 418 Gregorio Rocha, Los rollos perdidos de Pancho Villa (México D.F.: Archivia Films - Documentary, 2003), and de la Vega Alfaro, 4. 111 found when assassinated. The Padilla film intended to combat the stereotypes in the 1916 film

Liberty, a daughter of the U.S.A. These films highlighted the ongoing popularity of Villa during the 1920s.

Another movie exhibited during this time was The Bandit (El bandido). Promoted as a historical drama based on the life of Villa, the movie was a second release of When a Man Rides

Alone, starring William Russell, which had premiered in 1919. Playing the role of a Texas

Ranger, Russell crossed into Mexico in search of bandits who had stolen a shipment of gold.419

An advertisement in The Crosbyton Review showed a reproduction of the Ojinaga photograph of

Villa and the words El Bandido across the chest of Siete Leguas. The ad promised the movie as

an epic in which Mexico’s phantom bandit brought hell to the border.420 In a movie ticket that

advertised for El bandido from Bayard, Nebraska, the text excited audiences with promises about

the movie containing sound, talking, and singing. Both sides of the ticket showed the same image

of Villa from Ojinaga with the slogan ‘dead or alive.’ The ticket referred to Villa as the phantom

bandit of Mexico, a man who knew no law but his own. As an added bonus for the audience in

Bayard, the movie theater included a Villa re-enactor inside the lobby. The photograph on the ticket of a man next to his horse was likely one of the earliest Villa re-enactors and a reflection of his ongoing importance in attracting crowds to the movie theaters.421

419 Brégent-Heald, 194.

420 “Hell on the Border!” The Crosbyton Review, Vol. 21, No. 36, Ed 1, Sep. 20, 1929. 421 Movie Ticket [1931], author’s collection. 112

First wave of Villa Cinema

Starting in the 1930s, images of Villa continued to appear in Mexican and U.S. movies.

Movie industries would bring about their own interpretation of the historical figure for

generations of domestic and international audiences to come. In the United States, Viva Villa!

(1934) was filmed in both countries and starred Wallace Beery as Villa. Based on Edgcumb

Pinchon’s biography of the same name, the movie was riddled with inaccuracies and events in an

unusually positive portrayal of revolutionary Mexico that coincided with Roosevelt’s Good

Neighbor Policy President Abelardo L. Rodríguez granted MGM permission to film in Mexico.

MGM also invited one of Villa’s widows, Luz Corral, to Hollywood in order to screen the movie

before its debut. Premiering on April 10, 1934, the film became an instant hit among moviegoers

in the United States and Europe.422 In Mexico, Nellie Campobello spearheaded a campaign

against the movie because she believed that it portrayed the revolution as a romantic novel. In one theater, two unsatisfied men launched firecrackers that wounded three spectators. The

reaction in Mexico corresponded to a challenge of national history that was still under

construction. Some newspapers noticed that while Villa was popular, he was not recognized as

an official hero of the revolution by authorities.423

In Europe, Benito Mussolini honored Wallace Beery at the Seconda Mostra

Internazionale d’arte Cinematografica di Venezia. In the fall of 1934, Viva Villa! was among the

most popular movies in Paris. In Germany, Joseph Goebbels noted the movie was well made, but

not suitable for the German public, as it promoted the theme of revolution. Interviewed in 1939,

422 Mordaunt Hall, “Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa, in Fictionized Film Biography of the Bandit,” New York Times (New York: NY), Apr. 11, 1934. 423 Bernd Hausberger and Isabel Galaor, “Viva Villa! Cómo Hollywood se apoderó de un héroe y el mundo se lo quito,” en Historia Mexicana Vol. 62, No. 4 (248) (Abril-Junio 2013), 1497-1550, 1504-1505. 113

Adolf Hitler considered the film one of his favorites.424 In Spain, the movie inspired the

Republicans to sing La cucaracha as they marched into battle; some leaders, such as José

Poblados Colás, led battalions in Villa’s honor.425 In comparison, the impact in viewership of

this movie with ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!; the latter was not shown in Spain.426 Nevertheless,

people had already been exposed to the revolutionary leader in Martín Luis Guzmán’s El águila

y la serpiente shown in Madrid in 1928.

In Mexico, El tesoro de Pancho Villa (1935) was directed by Russian émigré Arcady

Boytler. The film told a story of Villa and his habit of burying gold, silver, arms, and

ammunition during the revolution. The movie began on a devastated battlefield where a woman

walked, looking for dead bodies. The survivors of the battle set up camp and sang songs about

their loyalty and defeat at Celaya. Then, Villa ordered some of his men to accompany him on a

secret mission: to bury a treasure. Once the men dug a hole and moved the treasure into the cave,

a skirmish broke out between the soldiers who considered this a good opportunity to take the

treasure. A loyal coronel retaliated by shooting each man, but was shot when exiting the cave,

because Villa believed he was one of the assailants. The colonel, known as Chema (Antonio R.

Frausto), survived the wound, but was very weak. Chema leaned on his horse to help him reach

the border, where he arrived half dead. A rancher found him and nourished him back to help.

Chema stayed on as a ranch helper until he found out about Villa’s assassination. Chema

thought he should go find the treasure, telling his American boss about the idea. A group of men

crossed into Mexico, but ambition and a series of betrayals ended the film without anyone

finding the treasure.

424 Ibid., 1512. 425 Ibid., 1532. 426 Ibid., 1540. 114

In the film, the first scene exemplified the utter despair and pointlessness of war. Chema held a man who was mortally wounded, who told them they should leave this place before he died. The scene directly criticized the revolution as a pointless struggle that took the lives of men without mercy. The movie also critiqued the revolution in another way. Once Villa has been assassinated and Chema was ready to cross back into Mexico, the nostalgic scenes of the countryside glorified a past that had never existed. Similarly, Fernando de Fuente’s Allá en el

Rancho Grande (1936), served as a remembrance of a nostalgic, yet entirely fictional countryside that had never existed during the revolution. In the movie, Villa (Juan F. Triana) is himself detached from any important role despite the fact that his name appeared in the title. The lack of script not only left Villa without agency, but also raised questions question why men, such as Chema, remained loyal to the general even after being shot. The question of loyalty continued to be a recurring theme in other movies about Villa and the División del Norte.

Loyalty became understood as loyalty to the revolution, and by association, the government.

¡Vámonos Con Pancho Villa! (Fernando de Fuentes, 1935), together with El Compadre

Mendoza and Prisionero 13, forms a trilogy about the revolution. These movies also presented the revolution as a force that left a trail of devastation. Fuentes analyzed the atmosphere and extreme situations of this period, showing how his characters became corrupted and engaged in meaningless death in either a futile pursuit of glory or an effort to satisfy personal ambitions.

Based on a 1931 novel by Rafael F. Muñoz, ¡Vámonos Con Pancho Villa! narrates the experiences of a group of friends who had heard about Villa and decided to join the revolution.

Known as Los Leones de San Pablo, the group courageously died one by one until the remaining survivor, Tiburcio (Antonio R. Frausto), was forced to leave the camp after fears that he might

115 have smallpox. Villa evolved from a cheerful leader to one uninterested in the wellbeing of his muchachitos, as shown in three instances during the film.

Early on, when the Leones set off to join Villa, they found the general just outside a freight train, giving a speech to a crowd. In his speech, Villa reminded his followers that he was fighting so that everyone could have their ranch and no one would go hungry once the revolution succeeded. After the crowd cheered, “¡Viva General Villa!,” a paternalistic Villa called the people his sons and began distributing corn from the top of the boxcar. The Leones looked on in approval as Villa continued to give out corn to the people. The camera then moved to capture the faces of smiling men and women receiving the corn from Villa’s hands. Shortly thereafter, Villa met the Leones and began questioning their bravery. And while these scenes portrayed Villa as a paternalistic figure, they also suggested he had reservations about the men who joined the revolution.

In another scene, Villa’s troops found themselves pinned down by a federal machine gun.

Villa, looking over the failed attack, saw the Leones shooting from a ditch huddled together with other troops from the machine gun. Villa approached the Leones and berated them, calling them gatos peludos because they did nothing to take over the position where the machine gun was being used. The Leones quickly jumped into action, dodging bullets from the machine gun to provide a distraction. Suddenly, a man on a horse galloped and lassoed the machine gun, bringing it back to Villa. The general was pleased, but the soldier suddenly fell victim to a bullet wound. Villa picked up the head of the dead Leon and then dropped it. The offensive succeeded, but the man died defending the Leones’ honor.

Near the end of the movie only two Leones remained. Tiburcio had just set fire to the body of his friend, Becerrillo, who had succumbed to smallpox. As Tiburcio contemplated his

116 act in silence, Villa approached and Tiburcio was happy to see the general. At this point, Villa asked where the smallpox transmission had occurred. Tiburcio came near and saluted him. Villa stepped back as Tiburcio approached, evident fear in his eyes. The general ordered the troops to move, but told Tiburcio to stay; again, Villa’s fear seemed more than obvious. After Villa’s departure, Tiburcio realized his services were no longer needed; his facial expression denoted his disillusionment with the war. In Vámonos, Villa appears cruel, kind, charismatic, despicable, brave, and yet and cowardly.427

This movie must be placed in context together with Fernando de Fuentes’s other movies

Prisionero 13 and El Compadre Mendoza. The three together served as a critical window into

how the director saw the effects of the revolution. In these films, Villa was not the main

character, but rather an ancillary part of the movie despite the title. Rather, the villista soldiers

received wider recognition for their bravery and loyalty. Together with Fuentes’s negative portrayal of Villa. Villa’s minor role and the ambiguity of his character of illustrate that while the revolutionary was being incorporated into national memory, no clear consensus yet existed on Villa’s image. According to newspapers of the time, the movie was not publicly acclaimed, because moviegoers considered the characterization an oversimplification of Villa.

Another Mexican movie entitled La justicia de Pancho Villa (1938) centered its narrative on an Argentine gaucho who left his family and rode across Latin America to join Villa’s forces.

After months of travel and singing along the way, the Gaucho arrived at Celaya, but Villa ordered his execution for fear that he was a reactionary spy. He was saved only because his family arrived moments before his execution and intervened to save his life. Inspired by a true story, the historical Gaucho Múgica was not so lucky; as rumors reached Villa he had been

427 Gustavo Montiel Pagés, “Pancho Villa: el mito y el cine,” Filmoteca 1, “El cine y la revolución mexicana” (1979): 107. 117 contracted by Pablo González to assassinate the revolutionary leader, Múgica was executed. In comparing the interpretation of Villa in this film and the Vámonos, the general was portrayed in a positive and human context, willing to recognize his mistakes.428

Second Wave of Villa Cinema

By the late 1950s, movies about Villa had changed significantly, instead of highlighting his flaws; they emphasize on his military qualities. In three films directed by Ismael Rodríguez, starring Pedro Armendáriz and based on short stories produced by Elías Torres, Villa was portrayed as a brave and romantic warrior ready for a fight in a character combination between a revolutionary, a charro, and a cowboy.429 The División del Norte and the revolution were

glorified and romanticized. Así era Pancho Villa (Ismael Rodríguez, 1957) formed part of a

trilogy composed of another two films: Pancho Villa y la Valentina, and Cuando ¡Viva Villa…! es la muerte. Each of these films began with Villa’s decapitated head to introduce the movies as short stories that narrated things that occurred during the 1910s. The decapitated head directly referred to the events of 1926, when an unknown person severed Villa’s head from his body. In the first of the three movies, the head warned the audience that it intended to present memories that came to his mind. The head also warned that names and details were not accurate, so as not to offend anyone. Uninterested in chronology, Rodríguez was more intent to share part of Villa’s life so that the audience could see him as someone other than the bandit fighter by presenting his intelligence and bravery.

428 Raúl Miranda, Una mirada el cine de la revolución: la justicia de Pancho Villa. http://www.correcamara.com.mx/inicio/int.php?mod=historia_detalle&id_historia=419 429 Montiel Pagés, 106. 118

One example that illustrates the inaccuracies of the movies was the story of Rodolfo

Fierro’s death, presented in the first film, despite the fact that he appeared in the two subsequent ones. Persecuted by the army, Fierro was forced into the middle of a lake with a sack of gold.

When he reached the middle of the lake, a Federal soldier shot him. His last word was Viva… as if to try and say Viva Villa! In reality, Fierro perished when trying to cross a lake during a military campaign to Sonora in the fall of 1915. In the movie, his death was presented as an act so brave that it moved Villa to tears. The scene merited attention because Fierro's death resulted from an accident rather than any execution by opposing forces, effectively removing the element of bravery from the original story. Additionally, the Federal Army appeared faceless during many of the movies. Presented as the enemy, the movies made no effort to distinguish among different revolutionary groups, other than that of Pascual Orozco, who had revolted against

Francisco I. Madero in 1913. Using the warning of Villa’s decapitated head during the first scene proved a clever move by Rodríguez, as it seemed to move the film away from making any ideological statements about the revolution. The move also downplayed the importance of the revolution and that so many men, women and children lost their lives as a consequence.

The image of Villa as a father figure in the Rodríguez trilogy comes from earlier renditions of Si Adelita se fuera con otro, and Con los dorados de Villa.430 By romanticizing the

films, Rodríguez removed the common revolutionary soldier and glorified Villa’s image,

rendering it devoid of ideology. Painting the countryside as a cornucopia as in Allá en el Rancho

Grande, glossed over the reality of rural to urban migration; by the 1950s, many Mexicans

migrated to cities searching for better opportunities. The troops' appearance of physical

cleanliness created another false sense that living in the countryside while fighting in the

430 Montiel Pagés, 106. 119 revolution was only a minor hardship. This movie became an example of what Sergio de la Mora denoted as revolutionary melodrama, for it entailed the conflictive transformation of a largely rural society into an urban, capitalist, consumer society.431

By the late 1950s, the filmic figure of Villa transcended his subordinates. Café con

Piquete illustrated this point in two ways. The story began one night when an angry

revolutionary arrived to see Villa. He yelled for Villa; a couple of men responded Villa was out

walking but would come back shortly. The man, with his gun in his hand was still agitated when

Villa appeared. Villa warned him to either put away the gun or be prepared to use it. The man

put away the gun and then explained wanted to know why Villa had taken his woman away.

Villa responded that the woman offered herself to him. After seemingly settling the issue they

went to sleep. Later on, the man tried to sneak up on Villa, but the general was quick to react and

killed him. The following scene showed Villa standing in front of some government officials, to

whom he explained that this incident had made him wary of people. The commissioner told Villa

that he was among decent men. Villa responded by calling them casi-decentes (almost decent)

Villa then showed them a blanket full of holes, which lead him to believe that someone had tried

to kill him the night before. Villa invited the commission to drink coffee with piquete (liquor).

Some tried to refuse, but Villa pointed out that they all had to drink the coffee to determine who

tried to kill him the night before. All started to drink the coffee, except for one who left the cup

on the table and began running and was gunned down. The remaining members of the

commission protested: they could have put their lives in danger by drinking poisoned coffee.

Villa pointed out that the coffee contained no poison nor he did he actually know who had tried

to kill him.

431 de la Mora, 149. 120

This scene presented the interpretation that Villa knew what he was doing, even if his methods seemed unorthodox or gruesome. The theme of the countryside continued to be pervasive. Hardly any of the short stories in the three films had fight scenes set in the cities. They created a false perception that the revolution was fought outside big cities, whereas some of the most decisive battles took place in cities such as Torreón, Zacatecas, León, or Celaya. The movies only examined particular aspects of Villa’s personality; even his negative traits were downplayed as inherently acceptable machismo by traditional standards. This portrayal created a national myth with international projection and reception by European audiences. These movies became so popular that some were made into comic books in Italy and distributed in France.

Movie posters produced in European languages also illustrated the distribution of these films across the continent.

Il trionfo di Pancho Villa (Así era Pancho Villa, 1957)432

432 Movie Poster, “Il trionfo di Pancho Villa,” author’s collection. 121

The image of Villa changed from a one-dimensional character during the 1960s into a complex political leader with significant character in the 1970s.433 Premiering in 1973, Reed:

Insurgent Mexico used black and white stock as a reference to earlier films and to inject a sense

of authenticity.434 Directed by Paul Leduc, the movie began in 1913 when American journalist

John Reed arrived in Mexico to interview Villa during his uprising against Victoriano Huerta.

Unable to reach him initially, Reed moved around Chihuahua, where he eventually found Villa

preparing his forces to march on Torreón. In a newspaper review, David Wilson said the movie

framed the revolution as a reflection of how Reed’s attitudes were shaped by the events he

witnessed.435 Reed portrayed Villa sympathetically and represented him as an intelligent,

reflective person with an evident understanding of the complexities of diplomacy.436 This break

with the stereotypical generous bandolero image popularized by Ismael Rodríguez attempted to demystify the revolution by blending documentary and fictional elements illustrative of a change in the aesthetics of Mexican cinema.437

In one particular scene, Villa spoke at length about the revolution as an ideological

struggle.438 Conversing with John Reed, Villa justified prisoner executions, saying there are three

types of sons of bitches. The colorados, or supporters of Pascual Orozco, were the first on Villa’s

list because they came from the same peon class as his followers and thus should have been

fighting for the same cause. The officials of the federal army were the second group Villa hated because they received education and combated the revolutionaries out of allegiance to the old

Porfirian system. Finally, the pelones or the rank and file soldiers were acceptable because they

433 Thornton, 24. 434 Ibid., 79. 435 David Wilson. “Reed México Insurgente (Reed: Insurgent Mexico),” Monthly Film Bulletin 42.492 (Jan 1, 1975): 15. 436 Thornton, 82. 437 Pick, 9. 438 Montiel Pagés, 108. 122 did not necessarily understand or have a choice when fighting the revolutionaries. Villa shows leniency to this group, explaining to Reed that many captured soldiers were given the opportunity to leave or join the División del Norte. During this conversation with Reed, Ludoc’s complex portrayal of Villa became apparent. Villa mentioned that early on, he lacked ammunition and so was forced to line up prisoners in lines of four and execute them with one bullet. While cruel, he justified the measure as an efficiency of war when the troops were low on ammunition.

The movie was filmed between November of 1970 and February of 1971 under the auspices of the government.439 In this context, cinema played an important role during the

presidency of Luis Echeverría Álvarez.440 State funding also came with use of the Churubusco

Studio and official international exposure.441 The movie screened in Berlin, Cannes, Pesaro, and

won the 1973 Georges Sadoul prize for best foreign film at Paris. Villa’s role exemplified some

of the character attributes associated with the historical figure, namely the way he related to

ordinary to people through associations and understandable stories.442

Third Wave of Villa Cinema

The myth of Villa was firmly embedded through media and popular culture in the mid-

twentieth century. During this time, Villa’s image was re-imagined within his relationship to

love and the reexamination of revolutionary values created under neoliberal nationalism.443 In

1996, Sabina Berman and Isabelle Tardan directed Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda, a

439 Montiel Pagés, 107. 440 Pick, 182. 441 “Pictures: ‘México Insurgente’ goes to Cannes, John Reed tale of 1911 upheaval,” Variety 266.10 (April 19, 1972): 30. 442 Pick, 188. 443 de la Mora, 142. 123 love-story comedy in which Villa was indirectly tied to the story line. Its protagonist, Gina, was a modern businesswoman in her late forties who had a lover called Adrian. They were both attracted to the figure of Villa, as Adrian admired his power and Gina his virility. At one point in the relationship, Gina wanted to further her relationship with Adrian, but he remained uninterested and disappeared for months on end. At this point, Gina challenged the relationship and found a younger lover, making Adrian jealous. Here, Villa appeared as the one-dimensional archetypical figure constructed in previous movies with one crucial difference: an inversion of

Mexican machismo. In examining the film, this inversion was illustrated in two particular scenes.

In the first of the scenes, an imagined Villa arrived at a hacienda where his favorite woman waited for him. She offered him tea, although he really wanted coffee. She told him there was no coffee, only tea. Villa then looked towards at a parrot and asked it for coffee. When the parrot did not respond, he took out his gun and shot the bird. Next, Villa went to another animal, this time a white cat. He asked for coffee and when he received no answer, he shot the cat as he had done the parrot. He turned towards s his beloved horse and asks it for coffee. Pistol in hand, he moved shoot the animal when the woman reacted and told Villa she would get him the coffee he asked for. The following scene showed Villa murdering her because he had not been offered coffee in time. In comparing this death to any other from the Villa movies examined previously, no justification existed for Villa’s actions. In ¡Vámonos Con Pancho Villa! he sent troops to die because of military reasons, and committed murder in Así era Pancho Villa because the member of the commission was trying to kill him. Even in El Tesoro de Pancho Villa, he injured his subordinate in self-defense or to hide the whereabouts of the treasure. Second, the hyper-macho figure greatly distorted whatever image, real or imagined, remaining of Villa in the 1990s.

124

As Adrian confronts Gina about her new lover, a critical scene takes place. A Villa that only Adrian could see offers him advice. At every failed attempt to get her back, the fictitious

Villa was shot randomly by an unknown gunman, allowing for a certain comical element meant to play into the slow assassination of the machismo represented by Villa. The imaginary Villa insulted Adrian and questioned his manhood by calling him maricón (fagot). Towards the end of the scene, Villa left Adrian after he failed to win Gina back; he did not reappear again until later in the movie. This scene showed how women gained agency by the 1990s by presenting Gina as a successful businesswoman more successful economically than Adrian. Her economic success also allowed her to take independent decisions.

This resembles some national reality, but does not represent all of society. The film represented a middle-upper class setting in Mexico City, which erased the presence of the city’s impoverished multiethnic population. This film denoted a utopian Mexico City where Gina killed off the last reason for Villa’s presence; there is nothing to continue fighting for if impoverished people no longer exist. Mexico sought to reinforce its position as an equal business partner to the United States within the North American Free Trade Agreement by heavily subsidizing the film industry.444

Few films dealt with Villa in the twenty-first century. In 2003, the figure of Villa made a

small cameo in Zapata el sueño de un héroe directed by Alfonso Arau. Also in 2003, but in the

United States, an HBO production entitled, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, featured

Antonio Banderas as Villa. The film narrated the story of the contract between Villa and the

Mutual Film Corporation to film Villa’s biography. The movie producers hired Margarita de

Orellana as one of its advisers. In this film, the image of Villa shifted from a generous figure to

444 de la Mora, 135. 125 that of a murderous revolutionary who has the faith of his men in his domain. In one scene, the troops were surprised during an attack and Villa saw two orphan brothers. He chose one to go with him and the second to stay with the movie producers who frantically tried to keep the brothers together. Needing men for the attack, Villa forced the producer to choose only one of the brothers, since he needed the second one for battle. The brother who went into battle was killed, while the producer saved the one left behind. The sequence showed Villa deciding matters of life and death on a whim, but it lacks a deeper understanding that this could be a reality of being in the revolution.

In Mexico, Felipe Cazals directed a film about Villa called Chicogrande. In this movie,

Villa played a minor the role. Chicogrande, the protagonist, was one of a handful of loyal villistas remaining in 1916. The movie also portrayed Butch Fenton, a representative of the U.S. military, who would stop at nothing to capture Villa. The movie was set during the Punitive

Expedition, when Villa hid in the mountains to recover from a leg injury. Chicogrande was sent to get a doctor for the convalescent Villa, and the movie revolved around the faithful soldier’s quest to bring a doctor to the mountains. He was captured by U.S. forces and tortured to the point of near death, but he refused to reveal Villa’s whereabouts. At one point, with little strength remaining, Chicogrande killed another villista just moments before revealing the location.

Wounded by Benton and left for dead, Chicogrande convinced a U.S. doctor to take him back to the mountains. Chicogrande died on the way to the encampment, but one villista saw them. Here, two scenes exemplify the acts of courage that a villista endured for his general and how the film portrayed Villa when compared to other movies previously discussed.

In the first scene, a man with a horse led the way into a cave in the Chihuahua Mountains.

The scene showed Villa talking with three other men, one of whom was Chicogrande. A young

126 boy named Tatiano accompanied Chicogrande. Villa told Chicogrande that Tatiano’s age made him question his commitment. While not explicitly asking to kill him, Villa hinted that Tatiano might be a liability if captured and tortured by U.S. troops. Chicogrande defended Tatiano, but

Villa reminded Chicogrande of the importance of his mission to bring the doctor to cure Villa’s wound so he could continue his fight for the poor. Being wounded, Villa was kept out of the movie mostly thereafter.

In the second scene, Chicogrande had been already captured and whipped until his back was red with the open flesh wounds without saying a word. Chicogrande sat in chair, from which he could see e Tatiano, also beaten to near death. Benton entered and asked the other two soldiers to leave the room. Tatiano, barely able to move and moaning due to the pain, looked ready to talk. Chicogrande, with great sadness in his eyes, stared at Tatiano and nodded his head to encourage him to keep quiet. Chicogrande quietly grabbed a pitchfork. When Benton began questioning Tatiano about Villa’s whereabouts, he started mumbling words that seem to indicate where Benton should look. Chicogrande screamed vayase mijo! and killedTatiano with the pitchfork. Benton screamed at the loyal villista for killing off the man who would tell him what he wanted to know. Benton then fired at Chicogrande and left the room, saying the camp would move out the next morning. Chicogrande, still alive, managed to convince the U.S. doctor to accompany him to see Villa so he can be cured. Moments before the death of Chicogrande, he explained to the U.S. doctor his unquestionable loyalty towards Villa. The Villista remembered a time when landowners controlled everything. It was Villa who liberated them from the oppression and gave them hope, a hope they had lost.

The movie focused on Chicogrande’s quest to get help for the general. Similar to

¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!, neither film was about Villa, but rather about the loyalty he

127 commanded from his troops. The Leones, for example, never questioned orders and Villa’s few appearances highlighted the extra mile his troops were willing to go. In Chicogrande, because

Villa was down to three men; if one of them turned him in, that would have been the end. But

Chicogrande stood steadfast, willing to kill to keep Villa’s secret location safe. Moreover, he ultimately sacrificed his life and convinced the U.S. doctor to accompany him to treat Villa’s injury. Second, Benton constantly tried to understand the unquestionable loyalty people had for

Villa. Their loyalty testifies that even ninety years after his death, people remembered Villa’s image (invented or not) and preserved it in their collective memories. Third, the images of the impoverished countryside contrasted with other movies analyzed thus far. In Chicogrande, the house of El Viejo Resendiz offered criticism of the hardships the revolution had caused in

Chihuahua by 1916. The film faithfully captured the ambiance of the time when all seemed lost for Villa. Long behind were the days in which a benevolent Villa gave away corn to the peasants, or stashed his loot away for a better day. In Chicogrande, the film revolved around survival and portrays a humble Villa stripped of the positive stereotypes of previous movies.

More recently, and following a similar narrative and title to Rosa Helia Villa Guerrero's best-selling novel, Itinerario de una pasión (Deschamps and Bueno, 2013) opened to a limited theater release in Mexico. Featuring stunning cinematography, the film began with the birth of

Doroteo in June of 1878. Pancho was born during a violent thunderstorm that suggested his future importance. The movie also showed the foundational myth of Villa’s story, when he saved his sister from being taken away by López Negrete, the local landowner. Hiding in the mountains, he was recruited by Ignacio Parra but decided to leave after Villa saw him kill a bread seller. Recruited by Abraham González, Villa was pardoned by Francisco I. Madero and fought diligently in the revolution. The film delicately mixed images of Villa’s earlier years with

128 those of his funeral and the tense encounters between Luz, Austreberta, and Soledad, his three widows. While it struck a balanced portrayal of the female roles, Villa was portrayed by

Alejandro Navarrete, who bore a little bit more resemblance to Villa than the women to their counterparts. The film contrasted with Chicogrande and Ciudadano Buelna (Felipe Cazals,

2013), which only incorporated the image of Villa momentarily and provided limited context for understanding the revolutionary leader.

Conclusion

Cinema captured the Mexican archetypes created over time. In the 1930s, the government

tried to create a society loyal to the revolution through the incorporation of prominent

revolutionary figures like Emiliano Zapata. Cinema set the stage for basic portrayals of Villa in

the following decades. The reference to an unapologetic Villa and a perfect countryside glorified

a revolutionary movement by highlighting the bravery of men and downplaying the harsh

conditions of the battlefields. Towards the end of the 1950s, movies like Así era Pancho Villa

continued with a romanticized countryside but a refashioned image of Villa. His benevolence

and good nature almost justified any actions or atrocities he committed in his movie portrayals.

The headless Villa that initiated the apologized for the random events shown in the movie and

historical inaccuracy. These movies showed Villa in the most positive light, keeping in line with

a time when Villa was soon to become a sanctioned national hero by the governments of Adolfo

López Mateos, and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz.

Towards the close of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, movies such as Entre

Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda, Chicogrande, and Itinerarios de una pasión captured new elements of Villa’s persona. In the 1990s production, the image of Villa was dealt a final blow that killed off his machismo to illustrate how this trait was not in line with the modern times in

129 which women have control over their own destinies. Mexico City was portrayed as an almost perfect and clean setting, hiding festering social problems. In Chicogrande, Felipe Cazals repeated some of the imagery presented in other movies of the 1930s focusing on Villa’s loyal soldiers, rather than the general himself.

The evolution of Villas images was not a process imposed by the government, but rather one that emerged among various sectors of society. For a hero, legend, or myth to cross generations, the invented traditions and collective bonds find a resonance within popular culture.445

445 A similar analysis is waiting for novelas. The image of Villa also appears from the 1980s to the present. Some of the examples are Sendas de gloria (1986), El Vuelo del Águila (1994), and El encanto del águila (2010). 130

CHAPTER V Politics of Remembrance

“Francisco Villa is unerasable, unburied, unforgettable. His figure resisted antivillismo from within and outside, and today, he is admired by some and others…”446

Alberto Morales Jiménez speech at XXXII anniversary of Villa’s death in 1955 (El Nacional, 22 Julio, 1955)

The people of the town of Parral, Chihuahua awoke the morning of February 6, 1926 to the news that the body of Francisco Villa had been exhumed overnight and the corpse had been decapitated.447 News of the beheading soon spread through newspapers in Mexico and the United

States, as reporters sought to understand the incident.448 Rumors grew that the head was on its

way to Chicago via Columbus, New Mexico at the request of a millionaire who wanted brain

specialists to examine the skull.449 Back in Parral, locals detained Emil Holmdahl and Alberto

Corral, who had claimed to be on a hunting trip when they had inquired about Villa’s tomb days

earlier.450 A photograph taken the morning of the incident shows Villa’s decapitated corpse with

bystanders looking on in astonishment.451

446 “Francisco Villa es imborrable, insepultable, inolvidable. Su figura resistió el antivillismo de dentro y fuera, y hoy, que es plenamente admirado por unos y otros…” Alberto Morales Jiménez speech at XXXII anniversary of Villa’s death in 1955 (El Nacional, 22 Julio, 1955).

447 “El Sepulcro de Francisco Villa, fue violado,” El Universal (México D.F.), February 7, 1926.

448 “Villa’s Body is Beheaded,” The New York, February 7, 1926.

449 “Expects Villa’s Head,” The New York, February 12, 1926.

450 “American Seized as Ghoul: Soldier of Fortune and Mexican from Los Angeles Involved in Beheading Villa’s Body,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1926.

451 “Fotografías Inéditas del Cuerpo Mutilado,” El Correo de Parral (Parral, CHIH), July 20, 1961.

131

Villa’s missing head remains shrouded in mystery, with many unverified and even fantastic stories as to its whereabouts. In one version, the head was taken to the United States and stored at the headquarters of the Skulls and Bones secret society at Yale University in New

Haven, Connecticut, along the skull of Geronimo.452 In 1960, Haldeen Braddy published a

whimsical story, in which Emil Holmdahl carried out the decapitation because Villa had tattooed

a treasure map on his head leading to his vast missing fortune.453 According to local folklore, the

head is buried near Parral. Coronel Francisco Durazo is said to have hidden it there after failing

to reach an agreement with an U.S. buyer.454 Whichever the case, the quest for Villa’s head

keeps treasure hunters guessing.

The location of the rest of Villa’s remains is equally mysterious. A rumor in Parral

maintains that Austreberta Rentería, one of Villa’s widows, ordered the body moved to a new

grave in 1931 out of fear of further desecration.455 If true, the remains transferred to Mexico City in 1976 by order of President Luis Echeverría Álvarez are not those of Villa. Another story involves the sale of his trigger finger at a pawnshop in downtown El Paso for the lucrative sum of $9,500.456

452 William M. Clements, Imagining Geronimo: An Apache Icon in Popular Culture (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013), 14.

453 Haldeen Braddy, “The Head of Pancho Villa,” Western Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan., 1960), 25-33, 31.

454 Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 789.

455 Froilán Meza Rivera. “Pancho Villa Descansa en Parral,” La Crónica de Chihuahua (Parral, CHIH), April 2012. http://www.Crónicadechihuahua.com/Pancho-Villa-descansa-en-Parral.html

456 Will Weissert, “Pancho Villa’s Purported Finger on Sale for $9,500 at pawn shop,” Lubbock Avalanche Journal (Lubbock, TX), April 11, 2011.

132

Popular memory is seldom spontaneous or original.457 Rather, public reminiscences

derive from scripts, biographies or iconographies of the celebrated dead, plagiarized or adapted

from earlier generations or other places. Francisco Villa was transformed from a political outcast

in the 1920s into an officially recognized pillar of the revolution. His image began as memory

conserved by everyday people that over time was incorporated, conserved, and protected by the

government in the form of textbooks, speeches delivered on patriotic holidays and official

ceremonies, ephemera, and other forms of public memory used to justify revolutionary unity and, more recently, cultural patrimony.

Literature was one of the earliest forms of public memory of Villa. Just days after his assassination, Rámon Puente published a biography in a series of editorials for El Universal

Gráfico, a Mexico City daily.458 Max Parra notes that between 1923 and 1924, biographies of

Villa proliferated, appearing in Los Angeles and San Antonio in the United States.459 In Mexico,

novelist Nellie Campobello helped conserve Villa’s image. From Parral, Campobello witnessed

many events that served as raw material for her novel Cartucho. Published in 1931, she sanitized

Villa’s image, which by then had suffered widespread political and cultural disapproval

throughout Mexico.460 During her lifetime, she actively sought a pension for Austreberta

Rentería, and interviewed many veterans for a biography titled Apuntes sobre la vida militar del

General Francisco Villa, published in 1940.

457 Lyman L. Johnson, “Why Dead Bodies Talk: an Introduction,” in Death, Dismemberment, and Memory in Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson (Albuquerque: University of New México Press, 2004), 6.

458 Ramon Puente, “Memorias de Francisco Villa,” El Universal Gráfico (México D.F.), July 27, 1923.

459 Max Parra, Writing Villa’s Revolution (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), 17.

460 Ibid., 53.

133

Villa’s rehabilitation was also directed from Los Pinos. As early as 1934, President

Lázaro Cárdenas approved an official historical revisionism favoring Villa. General Juan

Bautista Vargas serialized his A sangre y fuego con Pancho Villa between 1938-1939 in Mexico

City. Silvestre Terrazas also published a series of articles in 1936, that depicted Villa as a complex individual, at once an uneducated wise and loving man of the people, and at other times blinded by outbursts of hatred.461 The following year, Rámon Puente brought together his

newspaper renderings in Villa, en pie, an biography that presented Villa as the man the

revolution needed to succeed.462 Engineer Elías Torres also rehabilitated Villa’s image in 20

vibrantes episodios de la vida de Villa.463 Torres had acted as an intermediary between the ex- chief of the División del Norte and provisional President Adolfo de la Huerta in 1920, when the former surrendered at Sabinas, Coahuila. Spending time at Canutillo, Durango, Torres recollected the stories Villa shared while on horseback, eating, or watching the sunset from the rooftop of his hacienda.

Towards gaining political recognition

By 1930, Villa still lacked official association with the federal government. An article

published in El Nacional, noted that Presidents Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón, and

Plutarco Elías Calles had been successful due to their alignment with the proletariat. A few pages

later, photographs of the aforementioned presidents along with the outgoing President Emilio

461 Ibid., 124.

462 Rámon Puente. Villa, en pie (México D.F.: Biblioteca de Estudios Históricos, Editorial Castalia 1966).

463 Elías Torres, 20 vibrantes episodios de la vida de Villa (México, D.F.: Editorial Sayrols, 1934).

134

Portes Gil were included for the commemoration of the anniversary of the revolution.464

Regionally, Parral, Chihuahua had already begun to witness an influx of veterans on their pilgrimage to visit the general’s unmarked tomb or pay homage at the place where he had fallen.465

A group of División del Norte veterans first petitioned president President Lázaro

Cárdenas, for a statue honoring Villa in July of 1936.466 After they received approval of their

petition, veterans from Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, congregated at the main park on July 20 to place

the stone for Villa’s first statue. Organized by the Ciudad Lerdo Legión de la Revolución, they

invited Austreberta Rentería and Villa’s brother, Hipólito, to the ceremony held at what would

become the site for the statue. The unveiling featured prominent Villistas in attendance and

coincided with the commemoration of the anniversary of the revolution. On November 19, the

governors of Durango and Zacatecas, Elpidio G. Velázquez and J. Félix Bañuelos respectively,

were received by General Nicolás Fernández and veterans lined up along Francisco Sarabia

Avenue. Hosted at a local home, the governors were treated to a meal alongside Hipólito Villa,

Luz Corral, Francisco Villa Jr., and Rámon Puente. A meeting followed with veterans from

Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The following morning, the bust statue was revealed with a

plaque with a dedication from the División del Norte.467 Lázaro Cárdenas’s authorization

coincided with a historical revisionism underway that ultimately allowed the government to see

464 “Vente Años Después,” and “Figuras de la Etapa Reconstructiva,” El Nacional Revolucionario (México D.F.), November 20, 1930.

465 “Villa, in Legends, Idolized in Mexico.” Washington Post, July 28, 1929.

466 Júbilo, “Pancho Villa como Fuerza Natural,” El Universal Gráfico (México D.F.), July 31, 1936.

467 “Crónica Lerdense,” El Siglo de Torreón (Torreón, COAH), July 13, 2013. https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/889740.Crónica-lerdense.html

135 the revolution beyond factionalism, thus, sanctioning greater incorporation of diverse factions into national memory. The attendance of both governors from Durango and Zacatecas set a precedent for future commemorations that acknowledged the importance of Villa’s image to the region’s veterans.

In an interview, Lieutenant Coronel Eduardo Ángeles Meraz, recalled how the

Confederación de Veteranos Revolucionarios de la División del Norte was created in 1950 from several pro-Villista associations. Among its initial ranks, men such as Federico Cervantes,

Hipólito Villa, and Hipólito Villa Rentería recruited veterans to uphold revolutionary values and request pensions and access to healthcare.468 In Mexico City, on the thirtieth anniversary of

Villa’s assassination, Jesús Romero Flores in El Nacional remembered the fallen general and the

men who murdered him. Romero Flores portrayed Villa as an astute guerilla fighter, and

applauded his contributions to the revolution, particularly between 1910 and 1914 in the battles

of Torreón and Zacatecas. Romero presented Villa as the force of the masses that exerted

revenge against their abusive bosses.469 This tribute marked a watershed moment as the first

memorial of Villa penned by a non-government entity to reach capital’s newspapers.470 By

focusing on Victoriano Huerta’s defeat, the narrative did not address the distancing among revolutionaries after 1914. In 1953, commemorations were also organized at Escuela Centenario

468 Entrevista con el Teniente Coronel Eduardo Ángeles Meraz realizado por América Teresa Briseño y Alicia Olivera de Bonfil, Diciembre 8 y 11, 1972, Programa de Historia Oral/1/59-60: Entrevista con Villistas Instituto Mora, 59-60.

469 Jesús Romero Flores, “Sucedió en México: Fue Asesinado el General Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F,), July, 20, 1953.

470 In looking at El Nacional newspaper for México City from 1928 onward, this is the first mention of a commemoration honoring Villa. El Nacional is the only newspaper at the AGN that is complete from 1928 onward.

136 in Torreón, Coahuila, where friends and military men from Chihuahua, Parral, Zacatecas, and

Durango gathered.471

Community organizations and ex-combatants residing in Mexico City organized a

memorial in 1955 to honor Villa at the Salón de Sorteos de la Lotería Nacional with the

sponsorship of the Dirección General de Acción Social del Distrito Federal. General Tito Ferrer y Tovar headed the event as president of the Confederación de ex-Combatientes de la División

del Norte. Also in attendance were government officials Ernesto P. Uruchurtu, Mauricio

Magdaleno, Hipólito Villa Rentería, General Rubén M. Peralta Alarcón, the Asociación

Mexicanista “Los Dorados,” and the Mexico City music band which enlivened the evening with

songs from the revolution.472

General Rubén M. Peralta Alarcón, representative of the Ministry of Defense, spoke of

Villa as the defender of Mexican rights between 1910 and 1914. He emphasized the importance

of unity, forgiveness, and forgetting to attain national unity.473 Another orator, Alberto Morales

Jiménez, spoke of the general as the decisive force behind the victory at Ciudad Juárez,

chastising all the critics who had denied Villa’s place in history for years. Morales Jiménez

rendered Villa as anti-imperialist, an agrarian, and a liberal. He contextualized Villa to the epoch

of the 1910s, as a result and part of the turbulence that brought together Madero, Carranza, and

Obregón, who had fought against an unjust social order.474

471 “Un Homenaje a la Memoria del Gral. Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1953.

472 “Recordarán con una Velada Luctuosa la Muerte de F. Villa,” El Nacional, July, 20, 1955 and “Velada en Memoria del Gral. Villa hoy,” El Nacional (México D.F.) July, 21, 1955.

473 “Se Conmemoró la Muerte del Gral. Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July, 22, 1955.

474 Alberto Morales Jiménez, “Francisco Villa, Hombre Cumbre de la Revolución,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July, 22, 1955.

137

During its early years, the commemoration did not always coincide with Villa’s death anniversary. For instance, in 1956, the remembrance took place a day earlier at Salón de Sorteos de la Lotería Nacional. Family members, veterans, and political figures attended the commemoration, among them Deputy Carlos Ramírez Guerrero and General Raúl Madero, brother of slain revolutionary, Francisco I. Madero. Featured speaker Raúl Carrancá y Rivas stressed the importance of constructing a cult dedicated to nationality in modern times.475 The event ended with the interpretation of revolutionary songs by the Mexico City music band.476

In Chihuahua, veteran Federico Cervantes wrote that in 1956, governor Jesús Lozoya

Solís, responding to popular demand, allowed a Villa statue to be erected at the state capital.

Commissioned to sculptor Ignacio Asúnsolo, the original blueprint had Villa mounted on his horse Siete Leguas, but the governor requested that the sculptor disfigure the face because he changed his mind about recognizing Villa publicly. Journalists noted ironically this represented a second beheading of Villa. On the day of its inauguration, the governor declared that the statue was not of General Villa, but rather an unknown soldier who participated in the battles of Juárez,

Ojinaga, Tierra Blanca, and Zacatecas. One of the main orators, author Rafael F. Muñoz, referred to the statue as an equestrian tribute to the División del Norte, while another speaker, Manuel

Chávez, countered that to speak of the División was to speak of Francisco Villa and the revolution. Reflecting on the ambiguity of the statue’s representation, Luz Corral remarked, “… I

475 “Pancho Villa fue Primer Soldado de la República,” El Universal (México D.F.), July 20, 1956.

476 “Francisco Villa fue Recordado en Ceremonia Luctuosa en Homenaje Suyo,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July, 20, 1956.

138 know it is Pancho or it should be, but if he is a Dorado then it is like him. A statue does not change the truth…”477

A civic calendar published by El Nacional in 1957 featured calendar art of Francisco I.

Madero and recognized important dates of revolutionaries, such as Villa’s birthday.478 Given the

tradition of calendar production dating back to 1930s, Villa’s inclusion reinforced national

identity in popular culture due in part to the widespread circulation of calendars.479 In July, news

of Villa made national headlines; extending an invitation to a belated commemoration at Lotería

Nacional.480 Speaker José María Benítez argued that Villa lived in the hearts of the people and

the folklore of Mexico. Benítez’s interest in the construction of Villa’s image had begun shortly

after the general’s death. The newspaper included photographs of the commemoration. One

photograph shows a painting of Villa on horseback behind the podium where Hipólito Villa

Rentería, veterans, and other community representatives were sitting.481 Many villistas,

belonging to various associations, were also pictured, dressed in uniform. Other important

invitees included a delegation of Zapatistas who also worked to elevate Emiliano Zapata into a

place of national prominence.482

477 Federico Cervantes, Francisco Villa y la revolución (México, D.F., Ediciones Alonso, 1960), 650-651.

478 “Calendario Cívico Mexicano,” El Nacional (México D.F.), June, 1, 1957.

479 William H. Beezley, “Creating a Revolutionary Culture: Vasconcelos, Indians, Anthropologists, and Calendar Girls,” in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture, ed. William H. Beezley (Chichester, West Sussex, UK; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 421-438.

480 “XXXIV Aniversario del Fallecimiento de Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July, 20, 1957, and “Homenaje al Gral. Francisco Villa,” El Universal (México D.F.), July 26, 1957.

481 “Fue Recordada Ayer la Memoria del Centauro del Norte, Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 26, 1957.

482 Samuel Brunk, The Posthumous Career of Emiliano Zapata (Austin: University of Press, 2008), 88-118.

139

In 1958, the commemoration followed the same protocol as previous years. Speaker

Elpidio Velázquez claimed that Villa had not received proper justice. He pointed out that although certain sectors of society had yet to recognize Villa’s contributions to the country’s revolution, he survived in the hearts of the true revolutionaries and the common people. No streets, plaques, or cities were named after Villa, while some politicians had used the revolution to glorify themselves.483

For Villistas, the year of 1959 marked an important turning point in the government’s

recognition of their cause. During that summer, veterans from Mexico City paid homage to Villa

at the statue dedicated to Francisco I. Madero. Organized by Acción Revolucionaria

Mexicanista, Los Dorados, and Confederación Nacional de Veteranos de la Revolución, the

centerpiece of the ceremony included a photograph of Villa. Veteran Captain Manuel Reyes

explained the site was the logical choice given Villa’s loyalty to Madero, and by the fact that

their general still lacked his own statue in Mexico City.484 A series of events later that summer

paved the way for wider government recognition. The first was a gathering at the monument to

Juárez, which evolved into a march of villistas to the National Palace, where President Adolfo

López Mateos received them. The president’s welcoming position officially opened a dialogue

between the federal government and the associations that for years had fought for official

recognition of Villa as an important part of the revolution.485

483 “Aún no se le Hace la Debida Justicia al Centauro del Norte Francisco Villa,” and “Los Dorados Conmemoran el Natalicio del Gral. Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 28, 1958.

484 “Una Estatua al Gral. Villa,” Impacto, VII, 15, 59, 14-15.

485 “El C. Presidente va a Recibir a Varios Veteranos Villistas,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July, 20, 1959

140

López Mateos echoed the desires of those present by assuring the veterans that while he was at Palacio Nacional, all the aspirations of the revolution would remain within the same idealistic spirit. The villistas presented the president with a letter and gold medal to express their loyalty to the regime.486 Among the distinguished guests was the writer Martín Luis Guzmán, renowned for his works El águila y la serpiente, and Memorias de Pancho Villa. Upon presenting the medal, Juan de la O. Gardea recalled when then-presidential candidate López

Mateos included Villa’s image during his speeches in Parral, Chihuahua and Torreón, Coahuila.

To enliven the meeting, three corridos were played: Marcha de Zacatecas, Tierra Blanca, and

Corrido Pancho Villa.487 On July 21, celebrations continued at Lotería Nacional, where

congresswoman Guadalupe Ursúa defended her understanding of Villa’s ideology, against those

that argued he did not have one.488 These events opened the path for the Agrupación de

Veteranos de la Revolución, many un-recognized as veterans due to their villista, affiliation, to

petition for additional resources in the form of pensions and employment opportunities.

Villa’s Official Government Recognition

For some, Martín Luis Guzmán was one of Mexico’s most prominent intellectuals of the

twentieth century. Guzmán, a novelist, was re-incorporated into the government during the

tenure of Lázaro Cardenas, who returned him and others to the nation’s intellectual circles after

486 “Entregaron los Villistas una Medalla de Oro al Presidente,” El Universal (México D.F.), July 21, 1959.

487 “La Revolución Saldará su Deuda con Quienes la Hicieron Triunfar,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1959.

488 “Exaltación de Villa, uno de los Grandes de Nuestra Revolución,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 22, 1959.

141 their forced exile under Plutarco Elías Calles. Guzmán became the most prominent novelist to fictionalize Villa, and to associate himself politically with the fallen general. 489 Calling for

Villas’s official recognition, Guzmán considered his writing as a medium to honor him.490

Guzmán gained substantial political clout during the López Mateos presidency as he led the first Comisión Nacional de Libros de Texto Gratuito. Under the supervision of the Secretary of Education, he shaped the educational curriculum for the country’s youth. Workshops and contests provided content for the texts and, then, Guzmán heavily edited the final versions.491 In

the History and Civics text for fourth graders, Mi libro de cuarto año: historia y civismo,

authored by Concepción Barrón de Morán, Villa appeared alongside Aquiles Serdán, Pascual

Orozco, and Emiliano Zapata as the first revolutionaries. Villa’s reputation was exalted for

having entered Chihuahua’s territory with a force of nine followers that quickly exploded into

30,000, that allowed him to defeat Víctoriano Huerta. Regarding the split between Carranza and

Villa, the textbook author mentioned the incident, but without much detail. It also suggested that the defeat of the División del Norte in April of 1915 by Álvaro Obregón allowed Carranza to become president. Alongside the text, the editors included images of both Villa and Zapata.492

Villa also appeared in the text for fifth graders, as the one responsible, along with Pascual

Orozco, for the triumph over the regime of Porfirio Díaz.493 His inclusion into official history

489 Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody, The Man Who Wrote Pancho Villa: Martín Luis Guzmán and the Politics of Life Writing (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2016), 142.

490 Ibid., 156.

491 José Roberto Gallegos Téllez Rojo, Catálogo Martín Luis Guzmán Franco, Archivo Histórico de la UNAM Instituto de Investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación, 2011, Caja 254 Exp 9.

492 Concepción Barrón de Morán, Mi Libro de Cuarto Año: Historia y Civismo, Comisión Nacional de Libros de Texto Gratuitos, Secretaría de Educación Pública, México D.F., 1961, Fondo Martín Luis Guzmán Franco, Archivo Histórico de la UNAM (IISUE), Caja 251, Exp. 2, 165-172.

493 Fondo Martín Luis Guzmán Franco, Archivo Histórico de la UNAM, Caja 253, Exp. 4, Fs. 250 124.

142 books was an important step for his state-sanctioned recognition because these textbooks reached students across the country, more so than any single piece of literary work.

The Mexico City 1960 commemoration took place at División del Norte Park. Miguel

Covián Pérez spoke to a diverse crowd, marking the first official civil homage to Villa in Mexico

City. Calling for revolutionary unity, Covián Pérez stressed the importance of Zapata, Villa, and

Carranza as the men who forged the nation. He acknowledged that some still marginalized the memory of Villa and considered him a lawless bandit. The audience included veterans, civic organizations, schoolchildren, and the Mexico City municipal band, playing Estampas de la

Revolución, Marcha Fúnebre, and Tierra Blanca. A photograph from El Nacional showed the one inscription, along with flower arrangements, that adorned the podium: Al Jefe de la División del Norte.494

Not all government officials welcomed with open arms Villa into the pantheon of

revolutionary heroes. Efrén Núñez Mata, speaking from Ciudad Juárez, commented on the

famous April, 1911 photograph that included several revolutionary leaders. Acknowledging

many of them, he talked mostly about Venustiano Carranza and omitted Villa completely.495 In

1961, senators, family members and villista-zapatista veterans presided over the memorial.

Keynote speaker Guadalupe Urzúa, addressed Villa’s agrarian ideology, seeking to build a bridge to the most central tenet of Zapatismo.496 In 1962, Alfonso Reyes Aurrecoechea provided

494 “Se Rindió el Primer Homenaje Cívico Oficial del General Militar Revolucionario Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1960.

495 Efrén Núñez Mata “La Revolución es…,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 19, 1959.

496 “Francisco Villa lo Puso Todo al Servicio de sus más Caros Ideales, en Bien del Pueblo,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1961.

143 a short biography pointing out Villa’s loyalty to Madero and the brilliant battles at Chihuahua,

Ciudad Juárez, Torreón, and Zacatecas.

Those who wrote or spoke about Villa faced the challenge of how to address his break with Venustiano Carranza.497 The period between 1914 and 1920 became difficult to explain

within a national discourse that foremost called for unity. This discomfort was evident during the

first public commemorations of the 1950s in the flower arrangements that omitted Villa’s

name.498 José Ángel Aguilar recognized that although no statue of Villa existed in Mexico City,

his memory lived in the heart of the masses that each year grew in number. In one photograph,

under a flower arrangement that read “Villa, vencedor de la usurpación,” attendees included a

handful of senators, representatives, Mexico City administrators, veterans, and family

members.499 For one speaker, Manuel Osante López, the construction of Villa’s civic cult

represented a commitment to the authentic ideology of the revolution.500

In Chihuahua, the 1964 inauguration of a thermoelectric plant in Delicias, Chihuahua, allowed Luis Gúzman to applaud President Adolfo López Mateos for attaining revolutionary unity.501 More broadly, in 1963, efforts to incorporate Villa officially started to take shape in

congress. Deputy Fernando Figueroa called for Villa’s name to be dedicated with gold letters in

the congressional building. Figueroa urged fellow congressmen to recognize that without Villa,

the revolution would have failed. He stressed that Villa personified the popular struggle for

497 Alfonso Reyes Aurrecoechea, “Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 20, 1961.

498 “Ceremonia Cívica para Recordar hoy a Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 20, 1961

499 “El Centauro del Norte Recordado en Gran Acto,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1961.

500 “Fue Recordado el ‘Centauro del Norte’,” El Nacional (México D.F.), July 21, 1963.

501 Cifuentes-Goodbody, 157.

144 social vindication. Gathering support, the state legislatures of Durango and Zacatecas were soon followed by other states in early 1965. Rafael Estrada Villa recognized that for years indirect efforts were made to commemorate Villa by celebrating the División del Norte and that the ex- chieftain’s image inspired many others, such as Augusto César Sandino in Nicaragua, and

Camilo Torres in Colombia. Congressman Luis G. Olloqui recognized the efforts of men like veteran and governor of Chihuahua Práxedes Giner Durán, and criticized the efforts of the

Partido Acción Nacional for continuing to vilify the general as a bandit. Juan Barragán

Rodríguez disagreed with his colleagues and asked them to reflect, questioning if León Toral, assassin of Álvaro Obregón, was next on the list of people to be honored.

The presidential decree was published in Diario Oficial de la Federación on November

1966. The decree was read out loud in a special session attended by congressmen, senators, veterans, Villa’s family members, and representatives of Durango’s Juventudes Villistas.502 In his opening remarks, Raúl Bolaños Cacho praised Villa’s loyalty to Madero as well as his service under Carranza, that proved critical in toppling Huerta from power. He also recognized the work of Martín Luis Guzmán and Federico Cervantes who kept Villa’s memory alive. Bolaños also commended Gustavo Díaz Ordaz for incorporating Villa as part of a national revolutionary unity in 1966. Congressman Tulio Hernández Gómez added that this decision rectified a historical injustice long acknowledged by the Mexican people.503 Local state representatives and veterans

502 “Treinta Veteranos al Homenaje a F. Villa,” El Sol de Durango (Durango, México), November 25, 1966.

503 H. Congreso de la Unión LX Legislatura, “Letras de Oro: Francisco Villa,” Colección Muro de Honor, Comisión Bicameral del Sistema de Bibliotecas, 2007. http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/muro/pdf/villa.pdf

145 in Durango also remembered Villa by unveiling of a statue of him and a naming neighborhood after him.504

Calls for revolutionary unity reached new heights during the summer of 1967 when the

Federal Government minted a commemorative medallion with six revolutionaries: Francisco

Villa joined Francisco I. Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Emiliano Zapata, Álvaro Obregón, and

Plutarco Elías Calles.505 Reflecting on revolutionary unity, Díaz Ordaz commented during his

State of the Union address that the fight was a true revolution because it went beyond the

struggles of self-interested individuals.506 In this regard, the incorporation of these six

revolutionaries on the medallion indicated which men the government had elevated as official

revolutionaries. Villa’s incorporation reaffirmed his newly acquired official stature. Throughout

the student protest in 1968, students, carried banners with images of Zapata, Villa, and Ricardo

Flores Magón507.

In 1969, Díaz Ordaz presided over the celebrations on November 20 by honoring

Carranza, Calles, and Villa at different events. In one speech, Díaz Ordaz recognized that while

the revolutionaries bickered among each other over differences, they all contributed to the

triumph of the revolution. The ceremonies started early when Díaz Ordaz revealed a plaque

honoring Carranza at a park on Calle Río Ródano and Circuito Interior Melchor Ocampo.

Afterwards, at the Monument of the Revolution he headed a ceremony honoring the transfer of

504 “Se Rindió Homenaje a Francisco Villa,” El Sol de Durango (Durango, México), November 18, 1966.

505 Commemorative Medal, [1967], author’s collection.

506 Informes presidenciales: Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Servicio de Investigación y Análisis, Congreso de la Unión (México, D.F., 2006), 56.

507 Alberto del Castillo Troncoso, Ensayo sobre el movimiento estudiantil de 1968, La fotografía y la construcción de un imaginario (México, D.F.: Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2012).

146

Plutarco Elías Calles´s remains there. Díaz Ordaz ended the evening at the inauguration of a new statue of Villa. At the event, ex-combatants and family members accompanied both Luz Corral and Austrebera Rentería as the guests of honor.508 This act by the government of Díaz Ordaz reinforced the image of Villa as an important part of national unity.

The equestrian statue to Villa in Mexico City remained a place of reunion for years. A government report noted that for the celebration in 1970, Martín Luis Guzmán, Austreberta

Rentería, and two of Villa’s sons attended the event. With 600 people in attendance, the speaker

Manuel Osante López elaborated on Villa’s social compass that sought justice for the majority.509 An invitation for the event also noted the participation of the Mexico City musical

band, and an offering of flower arrangements to commemorate the occasion.510

Villa, recognized as pillar of the revolution

Luis Echeverría Álvarez issued an order in 1976 to transfer the remains of Emiliano

Zapata and Francisco Villa from Morelos and Chihuahua to Mexico City. In Morelos, the

government encountered sharp resistance from the people of Cuautla, who refused to allow the

transfer of Zapata’s remains. Mateo Zapata, son of the slain revolutionary leader, refused to

comply with the plans of the federal government on the grounds that it was an insult for his

father’s remains to lay next to those of his enemies. He also claimed the plan was extortion, as in

508 Elías Chávez, “Carranza, Villa y Calles,” El Universal (México D.F.), November 21, 1969.

509 AGN Investigaciones Políticas y Sociales 5 de Junio de 1970. AGN Secretaría de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Galeria 2 Caja 1140, exp. 2.

510 Invitación a Ceremonia XCII Aniversario del Natalicio del General Francisco Villa, AGN Secretaría de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Galería 2 Caja 1140, exp. 2.

147 return for permission to move the remains of his father, the government offered to resolve grievances. An elderly veteran, Alejandro Llanos Villalpando, with tears in his eyes, said he was willing to shed blood in sacrifice to keep Zapata in Morelos.511

Government officials did not meet this type of resistance in Chihuahua. Published in

Diario Oficial de la Federación, Echeverría called for the remains to be honored at Parral,

Durango, and Zacatecas as they made their way to Mexico City. The decree recognized that

despite Villa’s animosity towards other revolutionaries, he maintained revolutionary and patriotic convictions.512 Excavation of his grave began on a cold November day. With police

standing by, the excavation continued the next day with an official ceremony and a local boy by

the name of César Arturo Hernández reciting a few words.513 Most of the attendees were not allowed in the cemetery due to fears of public resistance, as had happened Morelos. Villa’s sons stated that the proclamation of the Echeverría government represented national unity, which had

finally quelled the passions generated during the revolution. With Las Golondrinas playing in the

background, the Delicias mounted military, dressed in cross-banded ammunition belts, escorted

the remains through Parral’s Calle Independencia. Thousands of admirers lined up and shouted

Viva Pancho Villa! as the remains were transferred to a federal government representative for the

drive to Durango.514

511 Jesús Michel, “Zapata no Está en Subasta,” El Sol de México (México D.F.), November 15, 1976.

512 “Texto del Decreto para el Traslado de los Restos de Francisco Villa,” El Día (México D.F.), November 16, 1976.

513 W. Ching Vera, “Inicia la Exhumación de los Restos de Villa,” El Sol de México (México D.F.), November 16, 1976.

514 Antonio Garza Morales, “Entreguen la Cabeza de Pancho Villa,” Ultimas Noticias, November 18, 1976, AGN Secretaría de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Galería 2 Caja 1551C, exp. 11.

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In Excelsior, journalist Antonio Garza Morales wrote about Villa’s missing head and speculated that Francisco de Paula Durazo, who had been stationed in Parral in 1926, had tried to sell the skull to the Smithsonian Institute. One veteran expressed sorrow for the exhumation, explaining that the tomb received thousands of visitors every year from northern Mexico because people remembered and honored Villa. Now it was nearly impossible for them to travel to

Mexico City, as they lacked resources.515 In Durango, 15,000 gathered as the remains entered the

state capital and traveled along 20 de Noviembre Avenue, with women throwing flowers as the

urn passed. Durango’s Governor Héctor Mayagoitia Domínguez gave a speech highlighting how

Villa symbolized the Revolution because he fought for justice. At the gubernatorial palace, his

remains were received by a delegation of 200 runners who had brought a torch from La

Coyotada, Durango, Villa’s birthplace.516

On November 19, Villa’s remains were honored at the National Congress.

Representatives of Chihuahua and Governor Héctor Mayagoitia Domínguez accompanied the

urn with Villa’s remains, as the national anthem played to a standing audience.517 Praising Villa,

several congressmen observed that president Echeverría could have chosen no better date to

honor his memory than the anniversary of the start of the revolution.518 The events also

represented the culmination of years of efforts to vindicate Villa as one of the pillars of the

515 Antonio Garza Morales, “Hay Puros Huesitos; Falta el Cráneo,” Excélsior (México D.F.), November 18, 1976.

516 Antonio Garza Morales, “Solo dos Dorados en la Exhumación de Villa,” Excélsior (México D.F.), November 19, 1976.

517 Demetrio Bolaños Espinoza, “El Congreso Apoyó la Acción Agraria del Presidente Echeverría en Sonora y Sinaloa,” El Universal (México D.F.), November 21, 1976.

518 Investigaciones Políticas y Sociales 19 de Noviembre de 1976, AGN, Secretaría de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Galería 2 Caja 1551C, exp. 11.

149 events of 1910.519 Secretary of Education Víctor Bravo Ahuja praised President Echeverría for

recognizing his debt to social movements by including Villa in the Monumento de la

Revolución, as the leader who took the violence of the common man and gave it a social

purpose. He recognized that Villa always occupied the popular passion of the oppressed

classes.520

Several veterans interviewed by El Universal expressed their concerns about the decision

to move Villa’s remains. Mayor Silvestre Cadena Jaramillo recollected that out of the forty

surviving veterans in 1976, some worked as drivers, watchmen, milkmen, or simply were

unemployed and begged on the streets. No one would hire them because of their age. For their

service, they had received three medals, a diploma, and 10,000 pesos from the Echeverría

government in 1973. Jaramillo saw Villismo as a postscript in the revolutionary narrative

because villista loyalists did not have the same socioeconomic conditions of other veteran

organizations. Major David Bastidas Cruz decried the hardships they endured to attend the

events in honor of Villa, because of Chihuahua’s distance to Mexico City.521 In a 1973 interview,

Major Adan Uro García, acting as head of the Confederación de Veteranos Revolucionarios de la

División del Norte, lamented how many ex-combatants in their eighties had become beggars

because they had not been recognized as legitimate veterans.522 Even those with benefits, such as

519 Ignacio Castillo Mena, “Discurso Pronunciado en el H. Congreso de la Unión,” AGN, Secretaría de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Caja 1698B, exp 8.

520 “Palabras Pronunciadas por Víctor Bravo Ahuja, Secretario de Educación Pública, el 20 de Noviembre de 1976 en el Monumento a la Revolución,” AGN, SecretarÍa de Gobernación, Siglo XX, Caja 1698B, exp 8.

521 Fernando Meraz, “Aún Prevalecen las Injusticias por las que se Levantaron los Villistas,” El Universal (México D.F.), November 23, 1976.

522 Entrevista con el Mayor Adan Uro García realizada por Laura Espejel, Febrero 2, 1973, Programa de Historia Oral/1/70: Entrevista con Villistas, Instituto Mora, 70.

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Federico Cervantes or Nicolás Fernández, did not receive increased pensions to adjust for inflation.523 Author Arturo Langle Ramírez noted that with the death of most veterans,

organizations that protected their rights disappeared slowly over time.524

In early 1978, Durango’s governor Héctor Mayagoitia Domínguez met with President

José López Portillo. As a result of the meeting, the governor announced that a new equestrian

statue to Villa would be to be inaugurated as part of the celebration for Villa’s 100th birthday anniversary. The centennial would also be commemorated with a lottery ticket and a postage stamp. For the people of Gómez Palacio, Durango, the statue signaled the end of two decades of

petitioning for the commemorative monument. The sculptor in charge, Francisco Montoya de la

Cruz, created the statue from five tons of bronze, donated by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de

México. The statue was ready in 1980 and moved from Durango to Gómez Palacio; people along

the road greeted the statue as it passed by. Upon arrival, it took another year for workers to

transport statue up the hillside.

President José López Portillo expanded his commitment to Villa’s image by personally traveling to Durango to visit the revolutionary’s birthplace. Received at the airport by Governor

Mayagoitia and a band playing the corrido, Siete Leguas, the president took a helicopter to La

Coyotada. There, local politician Pedro Ávila Nevárez spoke on behalf of Juventudes Villistas about how Villa lived on in the hearts of millions of Mexicans because he knew how to defend

523 Entrevista con el Teniente Coronel Eduardo Ángeles Meraz realizado por América Teresa Briseño y Alicia Olivera de Bonfil, Diciembre 8 y 11, 1972, Programa de Historia Oral/1/61-62: Entrevista con Villistas Instituto Mora, 61-62.

524 Arturo Langle Ramírez. Crónica de Pancho Villa increible (México, D.F.: Compañía Editorial Impresora y Distribuidora, S.A., 1998), 77.

151 with honor the cause of the revolution.525 During these days, state and national media covered the events.526 Ten thousand people made their way to La Coyotada which signaled another

highpoint in government recognition of Francisco Villa.527 Back in Mexico City, Carlos Hank

González presided over the event honoring Villa at the Monument of the Revolution. 528

In Zacatecas, site of the gruesome battle in June of 1914, three equestrian statues were

inaugurated in 1989. At the center, Villa rode next to Felipe Ángeles and Pánfilo Natera. For its

50th anniversary, a painting celebrating the División del Norte’s triumph was commissioned to

Ángel Boliver. In the painting, Boliver honored Felipe Ángeles, Rodolfo Fierro, Tomás Urbina, and Pánfilo Natera.529 In 1980, Arnold Belkin unveiled a painting entitled Llegada de los

Generales Zapata y Villa al Palacio Nacional. Taken from the photograph of Villa and Zapata at

the Palacio Nacional, the photograph was first published in December of 1914 and then again in

1942 by Anita Brenner’s Historia gráfica de la Revolución.530 In his painting, Belkin took the

liberty of adding Ángeles and Eufemio Zapata, who were not originally present. He also reshaped segments of skin to leave Villa’s arm muscles and Zapata’s heart exposed, suggesting that the former constituted the arms of the struggle while the latter represented the heart of the revolution.

525 Juan N. Romero, “Emocionó al Presidente el Homenaje,” Diario de Durango (Durango, México), June 5, 1978.

526 “Durango, Epicentro de la Atención Nacional,” Diario de Durango (Durango, México), June 6, 1978.

527 Víctor M. Cazares, “Sentido Homenaje a Francisco Villa,” El Nacional (México D.F.), June 6, 1978.

528 “Francisco Villa está Presente en la Conciencia de los Mexicanos por su Identificación con el Pueblo,” El Nacional (México D.F.), June 6, 1978.

529 Langle Ramírez, 68-70.

530 John Mraz. Fotografiar la revolución mexicana (México , D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2010), 235.

152

In Chihuahua, Luz Corral continued her personal efforts to preserve the memory of her late husband. She was the first curator of a museum to honor Villa at her house. The widow gladly greeted tourists and spoke to them about her husband. Decorated with personal belongings, furniture, and photographs, one of the centerpieces to this day remains the 1919

Dodge Brothers Roadster the general was driving when assassinated. Devoted to curating a favorable image of Villa, she did not allow criticism by tourists as exemplified by an interview granted to physician Rubén Osorio. One day, two Americans arrived; Luz began the tour in the living room. In English, one of the tourist commented to the other that they had come to visit the house of the bandit Villa, not the Palace of Versailles. Angered, Luz answered, “Look stupid gringa, this is not Versailles Palace and I am not Empress Carlota, this is the house of Pancho

Villa, the one who attacked you in Columbus and who later General Pershing with his twelve thousand men could not capture”.531 To this day the walls of the master bedroom boast

photographs of Luz and the many distinguished visitors she hosted over the years, including

Presidents. López Mateos and Díaz Ordaz. When Luz Corral passed away in 1981, Quinta Luz

was donated to the state to serve as a museum. The Secretaría de Educación Pública, the Instituto

Nacional de Antropología e Historía, Secretaría de Gobernación, and Secretaría de la Defensa

Nacional all contributed to r the new Museo Histórico de la Revolución in Chihuahua.

531 Rubén Osorio, “Luz Corral de Villa,” in Pancho Villa, ese desconocido, entrevistas en Chihuahua a favor y en contra (Chihuahua, México: Biblioteca Chihuahuense, 2006), 112-123.

153

Cultural Festivities in Honor of Villa in Mexico and the United States

Since 1994, the town of Parral, Chihuahua annually hosts a ten-day event known as

Jornadas Villistas, organized on the anniversary of Villa’s assassination. The event includes

many performances and culminates in a public reenactment of Villa’s murder, wake, and burial,

all occurring in the locations in which they transpired in 1923. For the wake, the grieving public

joins the re-enactment. Participants form a line outside Hotel Hidalgo, wait to enter, give their respects, and catch a glimpse of an actor lying in state. The following morning, soldiers parade an empty casket carried through Parral’s main street towards the cemetery. The reenactment reclaims the general’s body and memory to reaffirm regional identity in villismo.532 In an

interview for Programa de Historía Oral, Mayor Justino López Estrada discussed how Parral created a committee to organize a yearly commemoration of Villa’s assassination on July 20.

Departing from the site of the execution, the mourners walked to the cemetery to deliver speeches at the foot of Villa’s tomb.533 Salcido Gómez was one of the architects in charge of

orchestrating commemorations to Villa in Parral through organizations such as Frente Nacional

Villista, Gran Cabalgata Villista, and Comite Pro Monumento del C. Gral. De División

Francisco Villa.534 The pro-monument committee was organized and sponsored in 1959 by José

Socorro Salcido Gómez, who financed the ceremonies until 1976, when they entered Parral’s

civic calendar. The Jornadas Villistas have been interpreted as a mechanism for local authorities

532 Anne M. McGee, “From Tomochi to Las Jornadas Villistas: Literary and Cultural Regionalism in Northern México” (PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008), 194.

533 Entrevista con el Mayor Justino López Estrada realizado por América Teresa Briseño, Marzo 29, 1973, Programa de Historia Oral/1/49: Entrevista con Villistas Instituto Mora, 110.

534 “Fallece José Socorro Salcido Gómez,” La Opinión de Chihuahua (Chihuahua, CHIH), Julio 12, 2015.

154 to defuse revolutionary potential in the wake of NAFTA and allow communities throughout southern Chihuahua to dress-up in villista regalia and participate in the spectacle of death.535

Villa is also remembered in Columbus, New Mexico. In one of the earliest actions to rescue Villa’s name, the State of New Mexico Legislature named a state park after him in March of 1936.536 The park encompasses the site of the old military grounds of Camp Furlong, which was attacked by Villa’s forces in 1916. Traveler Jack McDonald described the park as a tourist attraction with the old adobe houses that used to serve as officer quarters.537 A reporter from Los

Angeles Times noted the survivors’ outrage over naming public monuments after Villa. Mayor

Jesús Carreón was also echoed this outrage, and argued that locals were never consulted about naming the state park. The park’s superintendent, Carlos Sepúlveda, explained that the park’s

name did not honor the general, but rather commemorated the historical events of 1916. He justified the naming of the park by adding that people visited the park precisely because of the name.538 By the late 1970s, the town received some 800 visitors weekly supported by two banks,

a post office, general store, coffee shop, restaurants, museum, and small motel.539

Since 1999, a yearly bi-national cavalcade takes place each March. Starting from different points in the state of Chihuahua, the cavalcade follows the route travelled by Villa in

1916 as he approached Columbus as was joined by riders. Allowed entry by border patrol and custom agents, the cavalcade rides three miles from the town of Palomas on the Mexican side to

535 Anne M. McGee, 246.

536 Langle Ramírez, 68-70.

537 Jack McDonald, “Pancho Villa Legend Rides on in Mexico,” Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1969.

538 Charles Hillinger, “Old-Timers Bitter About It: Raided Town Profits by Pancho Villa’s Name,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1970.

539 Jack McDonald, “Viva Villa! Hero of Tourism,” Washington Post, August 20, 1978.

155

Columbus, New Mexico, where their northern neighbors receive them with food, music, and dancing. In 2006, a special twelve-hour waiver was obtained for up to 100 horses to cross into

New Mexico without having to wait the typical three-day quarantine period. Camp Furlong Day, started in 2004, brings in speakers each year to promote friendship and goodwill between the

U.S. and Mexico.540 The well-known Villa impersonator Narciso Martínez, a regular guest in

many events in the region encompassing Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Zacatecas,

typically heads this ceremonial penetration of the border by the cavalcade.

The only equestrian statue of Villa in the United States is found in downtown Tucson,

Arizona. Amid controversy, the statue was offered as a gift from the Mexican government and

accepted by Governor Bruce E. Babbitt of Arizona in 1981. With over 600 people in attendance,

Villa’s son Trinidad and granddaughter Guadalupe Villa Guerrero were among the guests of

honor at the June 30 unveiling.541 Representing Mexican President José López Portillo, Danton

Rodríguez recognized the controversy surrounding Villa but noted his prominent place in

Mexican history and expressed his desire for goodwill between both countries.542 In criticism,

university student Bernardo R. Acedo recalled the 1915 massacre at San Pedro de la Cueva,

Sonora where his grandfather lost his life to Villa.543 Tucson Mayor Lew Murphy boycotted the

event and advised City Council members to follow suit. According to historian Geraldo Luján

540 “Camp Furlong Day Celebration March 12 at Pancho Villa State Park,” ABQ Journal (Albuquerque, NM), March 2, 2011. http://www.abqjournal.com/7476/camp-furlong-day-celebration-march-12-at-pancho-villa- state-park.html

541 “Pancho Villa Statue Unveiled in Arizona,” New York Times, July 2, 1981.

542 Charles Hillinger, “Tucson Suit Seeks to Topple Statue: Pancho Villa Reviled as ‘Murderer’,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1983.

543 For a one version of the incident see Thomas H. Naylor. “Massacre at San Pedro de la Cueva: the Significance of Pancho Villa’s Disastrous Sonora Campaign,” The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1977), pp. 125-150.

156

Cadava, the statue represented wider discussions in Arizona about racial tensions, rising since

1980.544

In more recent years, another re-enactment has taken place in San Andrés, Chihuahua.

Each year since 2007, toward the end of May, a cavalcade congregates at San Andrés to

celebrate Villa’s wedding to Luz Corral. Dressed in revolutionary regalia, the small town of San

Andrés becomes a cultural attraction. Prior to the Jornadas Villistas, this festivity became a

prelude to a wider state effort to promote tourism to the municipalities of Cuauhtémoc and Riva

Palacio.545

Conclusion

The Radford College in El Paso Texas commissioned art instructor Esteban W. Beik in

1978 to curate the school’s historical artifacts collection. One afternoon, looking through a box,

Beik found a plaster mask with catalogue number 1137: Francisco Villa’s original death mask.546

When Villa’s body was embalmed, a close German friend Otto Norwald made the mask and hid it for fear of retribution. Decades went by until his spouse lent the mask to their daughter for a contest at her college. Refusing to return it, school director Lucinda Templin incorporated the mask in the institution’s collection. Chihuahua’s state government learned of this in 1971 when

544 Geraldo Lujan Cadava, “Looking a Mexican Gift Horse in the Mouth: Corridor of Exchange: Culture and Ethnicity in Tucson’s Modern Borderlands” (PhD dissertation, New Haven Connecticut, Yale University, 2008), 251-311.

545 “Escenifican Boda de Pancho Villa con Luz Corral en Riva Palacio,” La Opinión de Chihuahua (Chihuahua, CHIH), May 31, 2015. http://laopcion.com.mx/noticia/94756

546 Jane Pemberton, “Interest in Villa Death Mask Still High,” El Paso Herald-Post, September 10, 1974. This article contains an image of Villa’s death mask. 157

Luz Corral unsuccessfully petitioned to obtain the mask for her museum.547 In 1984, Ruth

Norwald Graham filed a lawsuit against her former school, arguing that the mask was not theirs to keep because its place was in Mexico.

After years of contention, the Radford College conceded to Norwald Graham’s claim.

Shortly after, the mask was officially returned to Mexico during a ceremony. José Manuel

Gallástegui, the Mexican General Consul in El Paso

accepted the plaster mask, still containing blood and

facial hair, and recognized Villa as a relevant figure of

the revolution.548 Opposed to moving the mask to Mexico

City, Senator José Socorro Salcido Gómez, along with

the Sociedad Chihuahuense de Estudios Históricos,

petitioned to keep the mask at Quinta Luz, the house

Villa built for Luz Corral.549

The appearance of the mask and the ongoing

mystery of Villa’s missing head serve as a point of departure to understand how Villa was

transformed into, and remains a hero. Placed in multiple contexts, the Francisco Villa of today

comes from a collective interpretation of journalists, organizations, intellectuals, soldiers,

politicians, teachers, and historians who identified with a particular version of Mexico’s

547 Ramón Aupart, Registro no. 1137: mascara de muerte de Pancho Villa (México D.F.: DVD Series Héroes Anónimos, 1997).

548 Judy Giannettino, “Pancho Villa Death Mask Back in Mexico,” Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, PA), February 27, 1984.

549 Gilberto Jiménez Carrillo, “La Mascarilla del General Villa,” in Anecdotario Villista (Durango: Fundación Cultural Amaya, 2008), 200-210.

158 revolutionary political order.550 These forms of public memory explain why Villa’s image

changed over time in the eyes of government officials. Initially recognized by local veterans and

organizations, the image of Villa gathered greater political acceptance over time as ceremonies

grew in size and quality, forcing authorities to recognize him as an integral figure of the

revolution. For veterans, requests that Villa be made official also represented a struggle for

themselves to gain recognition as former combatants, and as such, gain access to pensions and

other benefits.

Through the twentieth century, the revolution became a cultural tradition that sooner or

later recognized most of its sons as legitimate under the umbrella of the revolutionary family.551

The Revolution itself had become institutionalized by the late 1920s and subsequent administrations began to be viewed as antithetical to social justice concerns. Villa, nonetheless, retained his reputation as a rebel who fought for the good of el pueblo. Despite becoming an official figure of the revolution, Villa’s image appeared in anti-government protests against

Televisa and the return of the institutionalized revolutionary party.

550 Thomas Benjamin, La Revolución: Mexico’s Great Revolution as Memory, Myth, and History (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000), 151.

551 Ibid., 93.

159

CONCLUSION

Pancho Villa is one of the most iconic symbols of Mexican popular culture. Villa ephemera ranges from traditional trinkets such as key chains, commemorative coins, belt buckles, board games, flasks, pens, plaster statues, bookmarks, lottery tickets, license plates, kites, candles, shopping bags, collectible cards,552 puppets, dolls, playing cards, napkins,

underwear, wallets, coffee mugs, tequila bottles,553 to guacamole dip seasoning, lego sets,

exvotos, alebrijes, árboles de la vida, and a cable series chapter of Deadliest Warrior, in which

Villa squares off against Crazy Horse. The eBay website has proven an invaluable source for the

vast world of Villa ephemera. Villa’s image has entered the spiritual realm as a popular saint.

Equally popular when compared to Emiliano Zapata, or Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Villa continues

to have a magnetism that surrounds his image.

During the 1970s, the Pancho Villa Co., seizing on Villa’s popularity, issued nine

porcelain bottles with his image. The first six bottles portrayed important moments of Villa’s

life, including interactions with Venustiano Carranza, José María Maytorena, Álvaro Obregón,

and Emiliano Zapata. Ironically, Villa was a teetotaler. Villa’s head served as the cap for one of

the bottles, thus, the drinker literally beheaded the General when pouring a shot.554 Nevertheless, the use of Villa’s image to sell tequila was not accidental as both emerged within similar

552“1939 Mitchell & Sons, Stars of Screen & History Tobacco Cards,” Immortal Ephemera, http://immortalephemera.com/movie-collectibles/1939-mitchell-screen-and-history/

553 For a sampling see Guadalupe Villa, Xavier Guzmán, Héctor Zarauz, and Armando Ruiz, Villa y Zapata: una iconografía revolucionaria (México, D.F.: CONACULTA: Museo de Arte Popular, 2012).

554 “Pancho Villa,” http://www.jimbeamclub.com/pictorials/pancho/index.html

160 historical contexts.555 Villa’s name has appeared on dozens of brands of tequila over the years,

including Tequila Pancho Villa, La Leyenda Tequila 30-30, Viva Villa Tequila, Pancho Villa

Viejo Tequila, Hijos de Villa Tequila, 7 Leguas, and Tequila Los Arango.556

In Revolución Imaginada, artist Alfredo Vilchis discusses how he began creating exvotos

of the revolution in 2002 as images of national identity. Villa figures prominently in Vilchis’s

work. In Me pelaron los dientes, a vulnerable Villa thanks God for sparing his life minutes

before his execution by orders of Victoriano Huerta in 1912.557 Exvotos, rooted in the Catholic

faith, became a popular way for people since colonial times to thank their patron saints for a

received miracle. Unlike retablos, produced by highly trained artists, anyone could create

exvotos, which contributed to their popularity. Vilchis defended his art as abstract realism rather

than copies or falsifications, since the originals never existed.558 In other words, he created

representations of authentic events. He covered episodes from Villa’s near-execution in 1912, to

the attack on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916. In Las adelitas, a fictitious Simón Trejo thanked the Virgin of Guadalupe for the victory at Ciudad Juárez in November of 1913. The exvoto evoked the picturesque revolutionary, drinking and dancing with Adelitas as a group of musicians played in the background.559 Nevertheless, the exvoto did not reflect reality. No

historical evidence shows that women participated in the surprise attack on Ciudad Juárez in

555 Marie Sarita Gaytán, Tequila: Distilling the Spirit of Mexico (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014), 62.

556 Marie Sarita Gaytán, “On Pancho Villa, Tequila, and Mexicanidad,” Stanford University Press Blog, November 4, 2014. http://stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2014/11/on-pancho-villa-tequila-and- mexicanidad.html%20

557 Alfredo Vilchis, La Revolución Imaginada (México, D.F.: Abrapalabra Editores, 2005), 14.

558 Ibid., 23.

559 Ibid., 70.

161

November of 1913. Additionally, Villa never allowed drinking to be part of celebrations, as he always banned alcohol after taking over a city. What the exvoto exemplified rather was how popular culture made assumptions that presented the revolution outside the harsh realities of war.

In the exvoto Columbus, Vilchis used the fictitious voice of Candelario C., who thanked the Virgin of Guadalupe for allowing him to return home. Center stage, Villa on his horse led the attack that set the town a blaze. The note at the bottom of the exvoto explained that the troops entered Columbus to seek revenge on the person who betrayed them, causing the defeats at

Celaya and Agua Prieta.560 Again, historically, Villa did not directly participate in the raid, but rather monitored it from across the border at Palomas.

Francisco Villa, now portrayed as a folk saint, appears in prayers, candles, and love potions.561 Local markets in Torreón, Coahuila, and Mexico City sells herbs, amulets, stamps,

and incense to drive away evil spirits, heal the sick, or spark love. In 1953 anthropologist Isabel

Kelly found that Villa’s spirit had allegedly cured a young man of a nervous disorder in

Torreón.562 An informant described how Villa manifested himself through spiritualist mediums.

By 1977, Villa was already venerated as a secular saint by some communities in northern

Mexico because of his affection among the poor.563

One version of the prayer to Villa found in votive candles and prayer cards reads:

560 Ibid., 111.

561 Arturo Langle Ramírez, Cronica de Pancho Villa incredible (México, D.F.: Compañia Editorial Impresora y Distribuidora, 1998), 39-40.

562 James S. Griffith, “Pancho Villa: Bandit, Revolutionary, Hero, Villain & Saint?,” in Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits, and Healers (Tucson: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2003), 91-107.

563 Tom Butler, “Villa’s Widow – Secret in Her Eyes,” El Paso Morning Times, 12 June 1977.

162

To the martyr spirit of Francisco Villa, Great Revolutionary General. In the name of our Lord, I invoke the spirits that protect you so you can help me. In life you helped the needy and defeated the powerful. You made your enemies retreat. I ask for your spiritual protection so I am freed of all sin and you can give me the sufficient courage to face the most difficult challenges in my life. Amen.564

In certain communities, Villa has become a popular saint on par with La Santa

Muerte,565 or Jesús Malverde.566 Villa’s tomb in Parral has become a peregrination site. Believers

leave notes asking Villa for intercession as well as mementos for miracles already granted. A

similar peregrination occurs at Villa’s birthplace in La Coyotada, Durango. Each June 5th,

people decorate Villa’s statue with a candle, a cigar, and a bottle of tequila in his honor.567 The devotion to the General is also popular in the northern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo

León, and Tamaulipas as well as in Mexico City, and parts of Texas.568

One anthropologist described her experience with Villa devotees. At a makeshift altar in

a private home in Mexquitic, San Luis Potosí, devotees kissed an equestrian image of Villa.

Received with cheap tequila and cigarettes, Villa manifested himself throughout a medium after

564 “Santos para todos los gustos,” Periódico Zócalo (Saltillo, COAH), May 22, 2012. http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/santos-para-todos-los-gustos “Al espíritu Mártir de Pancho Villa, Gran General Revolucionario. En el nombre de Dios Nuestro Señor invoco a los espíritus que te protejan para que me ayudes. Así como ayudaste en el mundo terrenal a los NECESITADOS. Así como venciste a los PODEROSOS. Así como hiciste retroceder a tus ENEMIGOS. Así te pido tu protección espiritual para que me libres de todo mal y me des el ánimo necesario y el valor suficiente para enfrentarme a lo más difícil que se me presente en la vida. Amén”. Author’s translation.

565 Desirée A. Martin, “’Santísima Muerte, vístete de negro, Santísima Muerte, vístete de blanco’: La Santa Muerte’s illegal marginalizations,” Religions, 03/2017, Volume 8, Issue 3, 36. 566 Armando Partida Taysan, “Malverde: de Santo familiar a protector de narcotraficantes,”Latin America Theater Review, Volume 44, Number 2, Spring 2011, 22-53. 567 Observed by the author on a trip to La Coyotada on June 5, 2014.

568 Kristin Guõrún Jónsdóttir, “Querido Hermano… a Ti Invoco de Todo Corazón,” Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe29, No. 2/3, Good Bandits, Warrior Women, and Revolutionaries in Hispanic Culture (May- December 2008-2009), pp. 101-112.

163 the attendees sang Las Mañanitas. The devotees had prepared food and cake for the event, held close to Villa’s patron saint’s day of San Francisco, celebrated each October 4.569

Villa also survives through tattoos. Skin reflects a dynamic relationship between self and

society, personal identity and marketplace culture.570 One of the earliest and renowned woman to

request a Villa tattoo was Betty Broadbent, a Barnum and Bailey sideshow actress. In addition

to Villa, Broadbent sported tattoos of Madonna and Child, and Charles Lindbergh.571

Incorporated to Chicano gangster art, Villa tattoos represent an identity to Chicano culture;

adapting the revolution to their own understanding.572 Tattoos are a form of veneration art

carried on the skin. For many prison inmates, a Villa tattoo near the heart represents a request for protection.573

Final Considerations

The theme of Francisco Villa in popular culture is vast and ever growing in the heart and

minds of his pueblo. As this dissertation has demonstrated, Villa’s image is a social/cultural

construct brought together by the synergy of popular culture and collective memory that over the

569 Ruth Behar, “¡Viva General Francisco Villa!” in Translated Woman: Crossing the Border With Esperanza’s Story (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1993), 203-222.

570 Maurice Patterson and Jonathan Schroeder, “Borderlines: Skins, Tattoos, and Consumer Culture Theory,” Marketing Theory, (September 2010), 1-28, 4.

571 Ibid., 8.

572 “Tatuajes Chicanos y su Significado,” Belagoria (blog), http://www.belagoria.com/2015/06/los-tatuajes- chicanos-su-origen-estilos.html

573 Concepción Moreno, “Pancho Villa, de Caudillo de la Revolución a Santo de Narcos,” El Economista (blog), July 3, 2016, accessed November 20, 2017, http://eleconomista.com.mx/sociedad/2010/11/20/pancho-villa- caudillo-revolucion-santo-narcos

164 twentieth century produced a carefully woven, multi-faceted narrative. Villa appeals to the masses because of his ability to shift among contradictory labels and identities.574

The assertion that Villa crafted his own legend and myth are partially true, but popular

culture and collective memory transformed his legacy into ephemera, corridos, comic books,

cinema, and government commemorations. For those who tattoo his image, their choice of image

stems from a collective understanding of what Villa represents to these communities. For those

who consume ephemera, especially immigrant communities, Villa’s image represents Mexico,

and the states of Durango, Chihuahua, or Zacatecas in particular.

The preceding chapters illustrate that without popular culture and collective memory, the

image of Villa, as we know it cannot exist today. Although Villa helped craft his own myth, he

was certainly not widely renown as a social bandit before 1910. The evolution of Villa’s myth

becomes apparent through an examination of corridos; the earliest and most popular way

veterans honored Villa’s memory. Villa did not appear in corridos prior to 1910 and even when

he started appearing in corridos, he was not the central figure. Years passed before Villa became

the center point of his own corridos that highlighted his bravery and wit. In subsequent years,

corridos spread and maintained a living memory of Villa after his assassination in 1923.

Veterans and musicians preserved the corridos in broadsheets as a tribute to Villa’s memory,

which people sang and shared in nostalgic remembrance of the revolution.

Villa’s image also lived through political cartoons and comic books. The latter

transformed Villa from generation to generation, as comics continued to be one of the most

574 Desirée A. Martín, “The Remains of Pancho Villa,” in Latinidad: Transnational Cultures in the United States: Borderlands Saints: Secular Sanctity in Chicano/a and Mexican Culture (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2013), 66-104.

165 popular and cheapest forms of entertainment for the masses. Together with film, comics gained national and international reception. Film carried Villa’s image not only across the Rio Bravo, but also to Europe with plotlines of a nostalgic and idealized revolution. Finally, it would be decades for Villa’s image to be transformed into a hero of the Revolution. Veteran organizations fought for years to produce a favorable shift within a revolutionary government willing to sanitize Villa and appropriate him for their own national prestige. In the twenty-first century,

Villa’s image rests firmly throughout popular culture and collective memory.

166

BIBLIOGRAPHY