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New Mexico Historical Review Volume 85 Number 2 Article 2 4-1-2010 Pancho Villa and the Junta Constitucionalista: The Role of an urban Middle-Class Group in the Formation of the Villista Movement in 1913 Morten Lotveit Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation Lotveit, Morten. "Pancho Villa and the Junta Constitucionalista: The Role of an urban Middle-Class Group in the Formation of the Villista Movement in 1913." New Mexico Historical Review 85, 2 (2010). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol85/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Pancho Villa and the Junta Constitucionalista the role of an urban middle-class group in the formation of the villista movement in 19131 Morten Løtveit Introduction ducated members of the urban middle class were important in the for- E mation of Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s movement of 1913. This argument runs counter to current historiography. Historians mainly agree that popu- lar resentment against Gen. Victoriano Huerta’s government fueled the rise of the Villista movement, and they commonly believe that Villa’s personal magnetism and military talent were instrumental in transforming diverse and decentralized popular uprisings into a powerful armed movement. By and large, scholars see urban, educated middle-class individuals as mar- ginal in this process. They often assume that such figures did not play sig- nificant roles in the Villista movement until Villa took control over most of the state of Chihuahua at the end of 1913. Moreover, historians often regard the Villista movement as originating largely in isolation from the “respect- able” and “official” middle-class centers of the Constitutionalist movement, although the Villistas were formally a subordinate part of the Constitution- alist movement.2 Morten Løtveit is an Associate Professor of History at Hedmark University College in Norway and a former visiting scholar at the University of New Mexico. He has written a dissertation on the rise 131 of Pancho Villa, is the coauthor of a Norwegian textbook on the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, and has taught Latin American and Mexican history at the University of Oslo. 132 N new mexico historical review volume 85, number 2 This conception of the original Villista movement is arguably a core element in various interpretations of the Mexican Revolution. Thus, a re- appraisal of Villismo beginnings may have wider implications. Despite no- table advances in Villista historiography during the last few decades, this subject remains poorly researched and calls for further examination.3 Historians have particularly ignored the roles that members of the Junta Constitucionalista del Estado de Chihuahua (Constitutionalist Committee of the State of Chi- huahua) played in the formation of the Villista movement.4 The Junta Constitucionalista del Estado de Chihuahua The Junta Constitucionalista del Estado de Chihuahua (JC) was established in El Paso, Texas, on 4 March 1913.5 Most of its members came from Chi- huahua to El Paso in the aftermath of General Huerta’s coup on 18 Febru- ary 1913 against Mexican president Francisco I. Madero’s government. Four days later, military authorities arrested Chihuahua governor Abraham González, a close associate of Madero’s, and subsequently dismantled his administration. Many of those who formed or joined the JC had been aides, political allies, or supporters of Governor González. In terms of personnel, a certain degree of continuity existed between González’s administration and the JC, whose members included Samuel Navarro Benítez, Juan N. Medina, Silvestre Terrazas, Matías C. García, Aureliano González, Miguel Baca Ronquillo, Sebastián Vargas Jr., Eleuterio Hermosillo, Primitivo Uro, Juan B. Anaya, and Theodore Kiracopolus.6 García served as the JC’s presi- dent, but Samuel Navarro was arguably the organization’s most important member during the spring of 1913. Two particular circumstances should be made apparent. First, the JC played a role in the unification of the Constitutionalist movement in Mexico. Together with the rebellious states of Sonora and Coahuila, the JC took part in negotiations that led to the formal establishment of the Constitutionalist Army under the leadership of Coahuila governor Venustiano Carranza in April 1913. In this context, the JC acted as a vir- tual substitute for the overthrown administration of Governor González. Second, González had maintained a relatively friendly relationship with Villa, who knew several of González’s associates who joined the JC. Villa lived in El Paso between January and March 1913. In late February and early March, Villa was in a position to confer with some of the JC’s future members. The political circumstances following Huerta’s takeover made spring 2010 løtveit N 133 cooperation between Villa and the JC not only possible but also advanta- geous to both parties. A Gallery of JC Members Who participated in the JC? The JC’s membership generally consisted of educated men, often professionals from middle- and, occasionally, upper- class backgrounds. The gallery presented here is not a complete list of all JC members but rather a selection of figures who are interesting in this context. A doctor born in Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, in 1882, Samuel Navarro Benítez was employed by the Mexican Army between 1901 and 1904. He joined the revolution in 1910, and two years later, Madero appointed him medical major in the sanitation service of the forces fighting the Orozquista rebels, followers of a breakaway Revolutionary commander, Pascual Orozco.7 Navarro emerged as the virtual head of the JC during the spring of 1913. He joined Villa’s force that May, taking charge of its medical service. Two of Navarro’s brothers, Saulo (or Saúl) Navarro Benítez and Benito Navarro Benítez, also joined Villa and became officers in his Division of the North. Saulo was eventually promoted to general.8 Enemy fire killed Samuel Navarro during Villa’s attack on Chihuahua City in early November 1913.9 Juan N. Medina, a lawyer’s son, was born in the city of Puebla in 1882.10 He studied at the prestigious Military College in Mexico City and took part in the military campaign against rebellious Sonoran Yaquis from 1900 to 1903. Medina then withdrew from the service, became a businessman in Ciudad Juárez, and, in 1909, joined the Maderistas, Madero’s disciples.11 In late 1910, Medina took part in the Junta Revolucionaria, organized by a brother of Abraham González, in El Paso. In the spring of 1911, Medina played a leading role in the rebels’ capture of Agua Prieta, Sonora. Through his participation in the revolutionary forces, Medina was rapidly promoted to lieutenant colonel.12 Between May 1911 and February 1913, Medina served as a Maderista politician in Chihuahua, acting as interim mayor of Ciudad Juárez twice.13 After Huerta’s coup, Medina went into exile in El Paso and joined the JC. According to Medina’s own record, Villa ordered him to stay in El Paso, plan an attack on Ciudad Juárez, and send Villa munitions and recruits.14 In April 1913, Medina established a military camp at Agua Prieta in order to train and equip troops for service in Chihuahua.15 In July he and his recruits 134 N new mexico historical review volume 85, number 2 ill. 1. pancho villa with generals fierro, ortega, and medina From left to right: Two unknown, Rodolfo Fierro, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Toribio Ortega, and Juan N. Medina, probably in October or November 1913. (Photograph courtesy Record Group 165: Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, 1860–1952, The Mexican Punitive Expedition Series, National Archives and Record Administration, ARC identifier 533444) joined Villa at Ascensión in northwestern Chihuahua.16 In August the vari- ous forces that came under Villa’s command during the summer were inte- grated into the Villa Brigade, and Medina functioned as one of Villa’s two colonels.17 Before the Battle of Torreón in late September and early October 1913, Medina acted as Villa’s de facto chief of staff.18 Medina served as a key player in the formation of Villa’s Division of the North, but possibly owing to false accusations of embezzlement and a fear that Villa might execute him, Medina escaped to the United States and renounced all his positions in late November 1913.19 He stayed in El Paso until the summer of 1914, when Villa’s suspicion of his alleged embezzlement seemed to have evapo- rated. Villa called on Medina once again, and he returned to Chihuahua, working for Villa in various capacities throughout the following years.20 Silvestre Terrazas, a distant relative of cattle baron and former Chihuahua governor Luis Terrazas, became the chief clerk and private secretary of Chihuahua’s first bishop, José de Jesús Ortíz y Rodríguez. In 1899 Silvestre spring 2010 løtveit N 135 Terrazas began publishing the daily El Correo de Chihuahua, which became the rallying point for the state opposition from 1905 onward and offered sup- port to Madero’s party in 1909 and 1910. After the fall of Porfirio Díaz’s govern- ment in May 1911, Terrazas and El Correo de Chihuahua continued to support Madero.21 Furthermore, Terrazas played a key role in González’s economic policy in Chihuahua.22 Terrazas was in Mexico City at the time of Huerta’s coup in February 1913. When he returned to Chihuahua at the end of April, the new Chihuahuan authorities closed his newspaper.23 In early May, Terrazas moved to El Paso and became an important figure in the JC.24 When Villa became governor of Chihuahua in December 1913, he appointed Terrazas general secretary of the state, the highest-ranking civilian servant in Chihuahua.

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