Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (Spanish pronunciation: [biɣtoˈɾjano ˈweɾta]; 23 December 1850[b] – 13 January 1916) was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero with the aid of other Mexican generals and the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. His violent seizure of power set off a new wave of armed conflict in the Mexican Revolution.
Not to be confused with Adolfo de la Huerta.
Victoriano Huerta
Vacant[a]
13 January 1916 (aged 65)
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Evergreen Cemetery (El Paso, Texas)
Emilia Águila
1877–1907
General
After a military career under President Porfirio Díaz and Interim President Francisco León de la Barra, Huerta became a high-ranking officer during the presidency of Madero during the first phase of the Mexican Revolution (1911–13). In February 1913, Huerta joined a conspiracy against Madero, who entrusted him to control a revolt in Mexico City. The Ten Tragic Days – actually fifteen days – saw the forced resignation of Madero and his vice president and their murders. The coup was backed by the nascent German Empire as well as the United States under the Taft administration. But the succeeding Wilson administration refused to recognize the new regime which had come to power by coup. The U.S. allowed arms sales to rebel forces. Many foreign powers did recognize the regime, including Britain and Germany, but withdrew further support when revolutionary forces started to show military success against the regime; their continuing support of him threatened their own relationships with the U.S. government.
Huerta's government resisted the U.S. incursion into the port of Veracruz that violated Mexico's sovereignty. Even Huerta's opponents agreed with his stance. The Constitutionalist Army, the forces of the northern coalition opposing Huerta, defeated the Federal Army. Huerta was forced to resign in July 1914 and flee the country to Spain,[1] only 17 months into his presidency, after the Federal Army collapsed. While attempting to intrigue with German spies in the U.S. during World War I, Huerta was arrested in 1915 and died in U.S. custody.
His supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution. He is still vilified as a traitor by modern-day Mexicans, who generally refer to him as El Chacal ("The Jackal") or El Usurpador ("The Usurper").[2]
Early life[edit]
According to the records in the books of the Parish Notary of Colotlán, José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was born and baptized on Monday, December 23, 1850, in the town of Colotlán. (Other sources indicate he was born on March 23, 1845, in the Agua Gorda ranch.) His parents were Jesús Huerta Córdoba, originally from Colotlán, Jalisco and María Lázara del Refugio Márquez Villalobos, originally from El Plateado, Zacatecas. His paternal grandparents were Rafael Huerta Benítez and María Isabel de la Trinidad Córdoba, the first originally from Villanueva, Zacatecas and the second from Colotlán, Jalisco and were his maternal grandparents José María Márquez and María Soledad Villalobos. He identified himself as indigenous, and both his parents are reported to have been ethnically Huichol, although his father is said to have been Mestizo.[3] Huerta learned to read and write at a school run by the local priest, making him one of the relatively few literate people in Colotlán.[4] He had decided upon a military career early on as the only way of escaping the poverty of Colotlán.[5] In 1869 he was employed by visiting Gen. Donato Guerra to serve as his personal secretary.[6] In that role he distinguished himself and, with Gen. Guerra's support, gained admission to the Mexican National Military Academy (Heroico Colegio Militar) at Chapultepec in Mexico City in 1872.[7] As a cadet, Huerta excelled at math, leading him to specialize in artillery and topography.[8]
Legacy[edit]
In the historiography of Mexico, Victoriano Huerta is the "demon" of the Mexican Revolution, against whom all others are measured.[75] Diverse factions and interests in Mexico came together against the Huerta regime, including the Zapatistas in Morelos and the Constitutionalists in northern Mexico under Venustiano Carranza. Once Huerta was ousted, the loose coalition fell apart and Mexico was plunged into a civil war between the winners. Germany's backing of Huerta weakened their influence in Mexico while the hostility of the United States to the regime increased it. Although U.S. business interests had hoped that President Wilson would recognize the Huerta government, they realized he would not and began aligning themselves with different revolutionary factions.[76] One historian argues that Huerta's regime was not as conservative or reactionary as portrayed, arguing that he did not attempt to "reincarnate" the Age of Díaz. "Huerta and his advisors both realized the days of Díaz were gone forever. They did not attempt to stem the new energies and forces unleashed in 1910; rather they attempted to moderate them."[77] In general, however, his regime is seen as a repudiation of democracy and Huerta himself an iron-fisted authoritarian. Despite efforts in Mexico to redress the exclusion of Andrés Molina Enríquez from the pantheon of Mexican revolutionaries—since he is considered the intellectual father of the Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico, which empowered the state to implement land reform and expropriate private owners of resources like oil—Molina Enríquez is usually considered by Mexican historiography as "tainted" due to his service in the Huerta government.[78]
In popular culture[edit]
Huerta has been portrayed or referenced in any number of movies dealing with the Mexican Revolution, including The Wild Bunch, Duck, You Sucker! and And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.
In the 1952 film Viva Zapata!, starring Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata, Huerta is portrayed by Frank Silvera.
In the 1968 film Villa Rides, Huerta was played by Herbert Lom.
In the novel The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), by James Carlos Blake, Huerta is a major character.
Both Victoriano Huerta and Pancho Villa are referenced in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), when Indiana (Harrison Ford) is recalling events in his childhood to his yet-to-be revealed son (Shia LaBeouf): "It was a fight against Victoriano Huerta". He then spits on the ground to show disgust at the name.