THE IRREPRESSIBLE PANCHO!
by Morgan Bedford
May 1998 Guadalajara-Lakeside Volume 14, Number 7

The story of Pancho Villa merits more than a few pages in history books on that period between 1910 and 1920. So who was Villa? The man of humble origin, great charisma, a fantastic leader with marvelous native intelligence? The most popular figure of the Mexican Revolution OR a man of little or no culture, impulsive, haughty, tenacious and bloodthirsty, a savage who commanded through violence and terror OR the most capable and audacious military leader which our century had produced.

The following document does little to clear up the mysterious beginnings of Francisco "Pancho" Villa. It was discovered in San Juan del Rio, state of Durango, in July, 1947.

"I Aurelia Olvera Garcia, Municipal President in charge of the Register Office of this town, declare that in the archives in my care, there exists the birth certificate in the ledger of 1878 of the deceased Doroteo Arango (who during the armed movement he led adopted the name Francisco Villa until his death) being the legitimate son of Agustin Arango and Micaela Arambula. He was born in Rio Grande in this municipality on June 5, 1878" Myth and mystery surround Villa's early life. When he was a young man, he wounded a rich landlord who had raped his sister. Doroteo Villa fled to the mountains and was adopted by the leader of a group of bandits. The leader's name was Francisco Villa.

From this unique start emerged a man of many contrasts: great deeds mixed with acts that were unquestionably reprehensible. But from everything, there emerges the strong personality whose name today is legend.

In 1910, the spark of revolution which had been slow to ignite soon caught fire in the northern border state of Chihuahua. In that year, "Pancho" Villa emerged as an insurgent leader. He had worked as a miner, a peddlar, construction worker and cattle rustler on his way to becoming a brigadier general and a man who could have ruled Mexico. At the height of his career, he was declared a military genius. As the leader of the Army of The North, he was called the Centaur of The North. Finally taking Mexico City, he sat in the presidential chair. He had come a long way from the indigent youth he'd been back in Durangol.

In 1911, Madero returned to Mexico from the U.S. Villa seized his opportunity and on April 6, 1911, he presented himself to Madero.

Madero signed a decree granting Villa a full pardon and made him a major.

During the first fighting in the north, Villa, now a general under General Huerta, refused to return a valuable horse (which obviously was not his own). Huerta sentenced Villa to be shot for insubordination. In those days, they shot everybody. There were more deaths by execution and murder than by battle casualties. Villa was standing against a wall when General Raul Madero, the president's brother, intervened. Villa was imprisoned but managed a dramatic escape.

When the constitutional revolution broke out, Villa crossed the Rio Grande, escaping to the U.S. with only eight men. Thus began his incredible military career, during which he became the most controversial figure of that entire era. Villa organized highly mobile cavalry units, instituting lightening raids on military bases and the use of trains to move troops, supplies and artillery. He also established a unique field hospital consisting of 40 box cars with operating tables and the latest surgical appliances. He was far ahead of his time. Villa was hated by thousands but beloved by millions, the idol of the masses. His deeds, shrouded by myth, were popularized by corridos, those ballads sung by the people to glorify events or individuals.

He was also a notorious womanizer. The Mexican Army traveled with its women who served as soldiers. (Soldaderas, whose generic name as sung in the corridos was "Adelita.") They were also the cooks and nurses. Many times, these soldaderas were considered belligerants and treated as such. Casualties were so staggering that Mexico suffered a population loss of more than one million people. The story goes that Villa, crossing a battlefield, discovered his own "Adelita" dead, with a rifle still in her arms.

Villa then split with the Mexican government and eventually, the U.S. recognized Carranza as the legal president. Villa was now cut off from guns and ammunition from the U.S. In 1916, an arms dealer named Sam Rabel reneged on a paid for order of guns and ammunition. Enraged, Villa entered the United States, taking a hostile force onto U.S. soil for the first and only time in the 20th century. With 360 men he crossed the border at Columbus, New Mexico. U.S. General "Black Jack" Pershing led 6,000 troops in a punitive military expedition against Villa. But ten months later, the hero of WW I was still chasing his tail.

Villa's great victories, strategy and few defeats have been well documented elsewhere. Villa continued to harass the border until 1920 when Obregon became president and awarded Villa an hacienda in Canutillo, together with 500 guards, if he would retire.

But of the original revolutionary greats, none would survive. Madero, Zapata, Carranza, Obregon, Villa-all assassinated. To the end, Villa was a threat to the politicos. Too many thousands of peons and humble people in the north were ready to rally to his cry. Villa was assassinated while driving on July 23, 1923 on the streets of Parral. In this town he is buried. Later the grave was opened and the head severed. Perhaps someone wanted to discover a biological cause for his military genius. But then driving can be dangerous. Look at Czar Alexander II, killed by a bomb; ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand, pistol and bomb; JFK-rifle bullet; Rafael Trujillo-machine gun bullets.

But unlike some of these leaders, Villa had been in the service of a noble cause. Tierra y Libertad. Freedom and Land. This peon who had never owned a meter of ground also designed the only land distribution program that has ever worked, including those in Russia and Cuba. Napoleon would have loved him. Viva Villa!