Juan Cortina
Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea (May 16, 1824 – October 30, 1894), also known by his nicknames Cheno Cortina, the Red Robber of the Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Robin Hood, was a Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw and folk hero. He was an important caudillo, military general and regional leader, who effectively controlled the Mexican state of Tamaulipas as governor.[1] In borderlands history he is known for leading a paramilitary mounted Mexican Militia in the failed Cortina Wars. The "Wars" were raids targeting Anglo-American civilians whose settlement Cortina opposed near the several leagues of land granted to his wealthy family on both sides of the Rio Grande. Anglo families began immigrating to the Lower Rio Grande Valley after the Mexican Army was defeated by the Anglo-Mexican rebels of the Mexican State of Tejas, in the Texas Revolution.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cortina and the second or maternal family name is Goseacochea.
Juan Cortina
Red Robber of the Rio Grande, Cheno Cortina, the Rio Grande Robin Hood
May 16, 1824
Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
October 30, 1894 (aged 70)
Azcapotzalco, Mexico City
From 1836 to 1848 when Cortina was 12–24 years old, parts of the Cortina Grant North of the Rio Grande River was in the disputed territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces Rivers, claimed by both Mexico and the Republic of Texas. The situation had a big impact on Cortina and his perspective on government and power. When the United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican–American War in 1848, Mexico was forced to cede the disputed territory to Texas. Cortina opposed this concession. However, Cortina's Mexican militia was easily defeated and forced to flee into Mexico when the Texas Rangers, the United States Army and the local militia of Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas all organized and fought against his forces. According to Robert Elman, author of Badmen of the West, Cortina was the first "socially motivated border bandit," similar to Catarino Garza and Pancho Villa of later generations. His followers were known as the "Cortinistas."[2]: 189–190
Later political career[edit]
In the following years, Cortina focused on his political career within the state of Tamaulipas. President Benito Juárez appointed him military commander of the forces stationed at the southeastern frontier.
When the French intervention in Mexico began in 1862, Cortina sided with Juárez at first, and took part in the Battle of Puebla on May 5. However, as the French eventually defeated the Mexican forces led by the Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza and succeeded in establishing Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg as Maximilian I, sovereign of Mexico, Cortina sensed the opportunity to consolidate his power in the Tamaulipas region and switched sides by joining the invaders. This alliance was short-lived, and soon Cortina rose against the French. Commanding a large army that he had personally gathered and equipped, he engaged the interventionist forces that had landed near Tampico and defeated them. His further military actions along Central Mexico helped in the effort against the invasion, and he was present at the execution of Maximilian in Querétaro (June 1867). During this time, in the absence of a legal national authority, he appointed himself Governor of Tamaulipas twice - in 1864 and in 1865. He resigned from the office in 1866 in favor of Generals José María Jesús Carbajal and Santiago Tapia.
The attitude of the Anglo American Texans towards Cortina changed completely with the defeat of the Confederacy and his important role in the defense of the Mexican Government, and after returning to his estates in Matamoros in 1870 he was formally invited on several occasions as guest of honor of the city of Brownsville. His support to the Union motivated many notable residents of the Rio Grande Valley (including a former mayor of Brownsville) to endorse a petition to the Texas Legislature, asking for a formal pardon for his crimes during the Cortina Troubles. Although this motion didn't prosper and was eventually rejected, Cortina had earned the lasting sympathy of most of the local population of both Hispanic and American descent. The Mexican authorities also honored him: he was appointed Brigadier General, and the largest battalion of the state of Tamaulipas was renamed "el Batallón Cortina" (the "Cortina Battalion").
Arrest and exile[edit]
Cortina supported General Porfirio Díaz, military hero of the French intervention in Mexico and political rival of Benito Juárez and his successor Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Cortina attempted to raise an army from the local population and sheltered Díaz following his failed rising. Repeated accusations against Cortina by wealthy landowners in Texas of conducting cross-border raids against their cattle and properties were eventually heeded by the Lerdo's administration, and used as public justification to detain him. In 1875, Cortina was arrested and brought to Mexico City.
On 29 November 1876, Díaz overthrew President Lerdo in the Plan of Tuxtepec, which saw his re-election as a violation of the Constitution of 1857. Cortina was allowed to return to Tamaulipas, where he once again tried to raise an armed force. But before he could put his new army to use, Díaz ordered his arrest and confinement within Mexico City for the second time.
Many factors contributed to Díaz's decision, the main ones being Cortina's ambition to power within Tamaulipas above anything, and the consequent unreliability and instability of his support, as he had already demonstrated many times in his life. Díaz had also received a large sum of money, estimated from anywhere between $50,000 to $200,000 from the wealthy South Texas ranchers to finance his seizure of power with the condition that, in turn, he would take care of stopping Cortina's raids on United States territory. Most important, Díaz was determined to remain in absolute control of the Government (as he did for the subsequent thirty-three years), no matter the means involved, and he systematically removed all traces of opposition that could have challenged his will. Also, with diplomatic pressure coming from the United States Government, which was concerned about Cortina's ambitions in Cameron County and his behavior in the past, the President decreed the arrest and execution of his former ally.
Gen. José Canales, a longtime enemy of Cortina, was sent to carry out the order and decided to bring him to Mexico City instead, fearing popular reprisals from the people of Tamaulipas. His old nemesis, John S. Ford, also interceded on his behalf. Cortina was kept at the military prison of Santiago Tlaltelolco, without being tried or sentenced. He remained there until 1890, when he was removed from prison and placed under house arrest in a comfortable home in Azcapotzalco, northwest of Mexico City. Cortina remained there until his death on October 30, 1894.