Gangland (6 page)

With peace established with the United States, Mexican internal politics were still not reconciled between Republicans and Royalists, now known as Liberals and Conservatives. The Liberals wanted a democratic vote and a reining in of both the church and military, while the Conservatives opposed these ideas and many even desired a return to a monarchy.

By August 1855, even the staunchest Conservatives could no longer abide Santa Anna's corruption and abuse of power, and he was overthrown, exiled to Cuba and tried as a traitor, with his estates handed over to the new government. This led to a series of liberal presidents and one of them, Benito Juárez (Garcia), enacted a law that limited the power of church courts—at the time, many countries had already established a separation of church and state by abolishing church courts. But Archbishop Lázaro de la Garza called the move an attack on the church and rallied the clergy to fight back. Further laws allowing the state to confiscate church lands and to tax some parishes angered the clergy even further.

Although much of the military had been angered by Juárez and his laws (not to mention freezing their pay), the first attack came from an unexpected source. Despite being of indigenous ancestry, General Tomás Mejía was a staunch Conservative who considered himself defender of the faith, and launched a rebellion in the central state of Querétaro. Others soon joined him and the Conservatives captured Mexico City, installing their own president—actually, there were eight in four years—while Juárez ran an opposing liberal government from Veracruz. Juárez and the Liberals eventually retook Mexico City and reunited the government, but conservative rebels, including Mejía, continued to operate for many years.

A second emperor

The economy broken by yet another civil war, Juárez suspended interest payments on Mexico's massive debts to the United Kingdom, Spain and France. That angered the Europeans and Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III, president and King of France and nephew of Napoleon I) came up with a plan, unknown to Britain and Spain, to invade Mexico and install an emperor who would answer to France.

In January 1862, fleets from France, Spain and Britain landed at Veracruz. The Americans protested vigorously, but with their own Civil War raging, were powerless to do anything. When the Spanish and British realized the French had bigger ambitions than just getting Juárez to restart interest payments, they left. The French invaded and with the help of local Conservatives marched inland. A small but decisive victory by the local army at Puebla on May 5, 1862 is now remembered each year as the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

But the French prevailed and entered Mexico City on June 7, 1863 after months of bitter fighting. They installed a military junta who established a Second Mexican Empire, offering the crown to Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria. The 32-year-old navy officer wasn't a Bourbon, but as a Habsburg-Lorraine, at least he was European royalty. Despite never having visited Mexico or being able to speak Spanish, he accepted from his castle, Miramare, in Italy. He took the name Emperor Maxmilian I and his wife, Princess Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Belgium, became Empress Carlota.

Once installed in Mexico City, Maximilian angered Conservatives by re-enacting many of the reforms of the Juárez government. That didn't appease Juárez and the Liberals, however, who opposed him as a foreign dictator. His government was largely ineffective, relying on French military might to get anything accomplished.

The U.S. Civil War ended during his reign, and American protests became more tangible when they started supplying Juárez and his northern commander, General Porfirio Diaz (Mori) with weapons. It was a clever plan that circumvented international diplomacy as the Americans would place arms and ammunition on the banks of the Rio Grande at what is now El Paso, Texas, declare them officially “lost,” then repeat the process after Diaz and his men took the loot back to Mexico.

Further angering the U.S., Maximilian started two new communities between Mexico City and Veracruz—the New Virginia Colony and the Carlota Colony—specifically for former Confederate soldiers, though he later opened them up to immigrants from other European and Latin American countries.

Under heavy pressure from the Americans and needing his army for a clearly imminent threat from Bismarck's Prussia, Napoleon III withdrew from Mexico, advising Maximilian to return to Europe. But the emperor decided to stay, instead sending Carlota to other European capitals and even the Pope to seek aid.

None came. Maximilian escaped Mexico City just before it fell and hid in Santiago de Querétaro. The town was surrounded by rebels and one of Maximilian's men betrayed him and told them of his escape plan. Captured, he was tried and sentenced to death. Although many of the crowned heads of Europe and even progressives like Guiseppe Garibaldi and Victor Hugo sent letters asking Juárez to reconsider, he didn't and Maximilian was executed on June 19, 1867 as an object lesson to would-be invaders.

The Liberal Party held sway after that, but became increasingly less liberal as it evolved. By the time Porfirio Díaz took power for the second time on November 29, 1884 his leadership was obviously a dictatorship and he was king in all but name. He brought a great deal of economic prosperity to Mexico, but also a great deal of oppression. His philosophy of government can be summed up in his famous quote: “A dog with a bone in his mouth neither barks nor bites.”

But not every dog had a bone. Soon, revolutionary movements of all types began to coalesce under leaders like Francisco I Madero (González), Pancho Villa (a nom de guerre for José Doroteo Arango Arámbula) and Emiliano Zapata (Salazar). Madero, a wealthy young man who was conservative but not in favor of a dictatorship, decided to run in the 1910 national election as a member of the Progressive Constitutionalist Party—PCP, formerly the Anti-reelectionist Party—even though he knew the vote would be rigged in Diaz's favor.

On the day of the election, Diaz jailed Madero and announced he had won another term by a huge landslide. From jail, Madero wrote his
Plan de San Luis Potosí
, a vague proposal for a more democratic government. The “letter from jail,” as it came to be known, inspired revolutionaries all over Mexico.

It didn't take long for Madero's army—conveniently but not always willingly allied with socialist, anarchist and indigenous-rights groups—to defeat the national army in what was called the Mexican Revolution and Diaz was soon deposed. Madero installed himself as interim president on November 11, 1911 and called for new elections.

He actually won by a landslide and enjoyed not only the support of his allies in the revolution, but also the United States. However, his government didn't last long, as Madero's centrist approach pleased neither conservatives nor liberals. Many of his former supporters broke from him and formed new revolutionary movements, including the Colorados and Zapatistas. Fearing another revolution, Madero's commander-in-chief, General Victoriano Huerta staged a coup on February 8, 1913.

Madero and his vice-president José María Pino Suárez were held captive until Huerta and his men decided to exile them. Almost as soon as they were freed, both men were assassinated by members of the
rurales
, a mounted paramilitary group loyal to Huerta. Most Mexicans at the time (and now) believe they were acting under Huerta's command.

In a cynical move to give the new regime a sheen of legitimacy, Huerta announced that foreign minister Pedro Lascuráin (Paredes) would be president—even though Attorney General Adolfo Valles (Ibañez) was actually the legitimate successor. But his reign lasted, by some accounts, as little as 15 minutes and his only act would be to step aside for Huerta, who set up a very repressive military state.

Huerta made few friends internationally, and a strong enemy of President Herbert Hoover, who repeatedly asked him to step down. Relations between the two countries worsened in March 1914 when rebels surrounded Huerta's men in the oil refining town of Tampico on the Gulf Coast. Although the American government agreed at least in principle with the Constitutionalist rebels, they rushed navy ships to the port in an effort to protect and potentially evacuate the many American oil workers there. The first American warship to arrive—and the only one that could navigate the shallow harbor—was the USS
Dolphin
, a small gunboat that had seen action in the 1898 Spanish–American War.

When a few American sailors left the ship to get fuel, they were arrested at gunpoint by Huerta's soldiers. None of the Americans could speak Spanish and none of the Mexicans could speak English, so the incident dragged on. When he found out that at least one of the sailors was arrested on board the
Dolphin
—which technically could be seen as an invasion of U.S. sovereign territory—area commander Rear Admiral Henry T. Mayo demanded the men's release and a formal apology. Mexican officials freed the sailors and issued a written apology, but refused to fly the U.S. flag on Mexican soil, which the Americans had demanded.

Using that as a pretext, Hoover asked Congress to invade Mexico in an effort to dislodge Huerta's regime. While he was waiting for their approval, U.S. intelligence learned of an embargo-breaking arms shipment to Veracruz from Germany. That allowed Hoover to mount an invasion without Congressional assent.

The U.S. sent a number of boats and 2,300 men to Veracruz. They landed without opposition—to crowds of curious Americans and Mexicans lining the beach—and quickly took control of the city. Most of the Mexican military retreated, but about 50 remained loyal to the Huerta cause and a few of the cadets at the Naval Academy tried to defend the building. The Americans prevailed and occupied the city for six months. The two countries were on the brink of war until they called upon the ABC Countries—an alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Chile—to mediate at a special summit in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The situation became complicated in the north of Mexico as well. There were two major armies fighting Huerta's forces—top Constitutional commander Venustiano Carranza (de la Garza) in the south and Pancho Villa in the north. Villa had been very successful in his drive toward the capital when he received word from Carranza instructing him to divert his attack to a coal-mining town because the southern army needed more coal.

Angered by what he saw as Carranza trying to deprive him of the glory of taking the capital, Villa cut ties with him and declared his movement independent. It was a bold move, and one that would cost him dearly. Previously, Villa had been something of a folk hero on both sides of the border, and many of his band of raiders were English-speaking American volunteers attracted by the romance of the lifestyle and the idea of freeing Mexico from a dictatorship. That image began to fade as news of the violence and excesses not only of his men, but Villa himself, became known. A meeting with General John Pershing convinced the Americans that Villa was the wrong horse to back—for years he had enjoyed moral and material support from the U.S., but the U.S. now chose to side with Carranza.

Most of the American volunteers went back home. With great losses in manpower, supplies and ammunition, Villa's men were routed by forces loyal to Carranza—who had taken over as president after defeating Huerta—at the Battle of Agua Prieta. With just 500 followers left, mostly wandering the desert and foraging for food, Villa decided to launch a raid on the small border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

At about 4:00 a.m., Villa launched a terror attack with his horsemen shooting and shouting. They began to loot and burn private homes. One of Villa's scouts had told him that there were only 30 soldiers garrisoned in Columbus, but there were actually 330 with machine guns. The residents of the town were also well-armed, and Villa sounded the retreat after about 90 minutes of bloodshed.

Villa had lost about half of his men and gained nothing but the ire of the Americans. Pershing led a 10,000-man force into northern Mexico to find him, but had to cut the search short when it became obvious the Americans were going to enter World War I. Villa had some contact with the Germans, who may have been hoping to use him in an effort to open a North American front in their European War, but nothing substantial came of it. Friendless, Villa eventually retired.

The fall of the PRI

Another old ally of Carranza's who had turned foe was Zapata. A
Mestizo
who is said to have spoken Nahuatl fluently, Zapata split with the Constitutional cause and had his own army—officially the Liberationalist army, but popularly known as the Zapatistas—who rallied under his phrase: “It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” Less disciplined even than Villa's men, in the early part of the revolution, Madero asked him to disarm, but he refused and split with his old ally. As he shot and looted his way through village after village, it has been argued that Zapata's men were more like a gang of bandits than revolutionaries.

They were powerful, particularly in the south. While successive governments (and even Villa) tried to defeat Zapata's army, they had failed, so Carranza's Constitutionalists came up with a cunning plan. General Pablo González (Garza) and his second-in-command, Colonel Jesús Guajardo (Martinez), sent word that they wanted to join Zapata. He was suspicious of their motives, and asked them to prove their loyalty before he would meet face to face with them. González then sent Guajardo to ambush an unsuspecting Constitutionalist convoy. When Zapata saw that Guajardo's men had killed 57 government soldiers, he agreed to a meeting. When Zapata arrived in Chinameca on April 10, 1919, Guajardo's men shot him with dozens of bullets.

Without their charismatic leader, the Zapatistas faded away, although many of his followers later became peacefully involved in Mexican governments.

Back in 1917, Carranza had written a socialist-leaning constitution with the primary goal of decentralizing the power of the church and military, while easing out foreign land ownership. He didn't stay in power long enough to put his plans into action, however, as his minister of war, General Álvaro Obregón (Salido), conspiring with fellow officers Plutarco Elías Calles (Campuzano) and Adolfo de la Huerta (Marcor, no relation to the former president), staged a coup, and killed Carranza on May 21, 1920. Obregón's forces later assassinated Villa as well.