Pascual Orozco He was a Mexican military and revolutionary born in the state of Chihuahua in January 1882. A sympathizer of the anti-reelectionist movement, he supported the Plan of San Luis proclaimed by Francisco I. Madero in 1910 to overthrow the Porfirio Díaz regime. After the triumph of the revolution, he was appointed head of the irregular troops of his native state.
Later, Orozco led the Empacadora Plan, which called for taking up arms against the Madero government. Although his uprising failed, Madero was overthrown by a coup led by Victoriano Huerta, who proclaimed himself president of Mexico and established a dictatorial regime..
Orozco supported the new president of the country and served as brigadier general. From this position, he fought the revolutionaries who had risen up against Huerta. The defeat of this caused that both had to go into exile to the United States. From there, they continued to plan the counterrevolution.
Orozco and Huerta's plans were discovered by the US authorities. Orozco, however, managed to escape the house arrest to which he had been sentenced. When he was trying to return to Mexico, he was shot down in Texas by a group of Rangers, in 1915.
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Pascual Orozco Vázquez was born on January 28, 1882 on the Santa Inés farm, near the town today called in his memory San Isidro Pascual Orozco, in the municipality of Guerrero (Chihuahua).
His father, with whom he shared a name, was a small local merchant and alternate deputy of the state, participated with his son in the revolution with the rank of colonel. His mother, meanwhile, was María Amada Orozco y Vázquez, who, like her husband, belonged to the second generation of a family of Basque immigrants.
Orozco completed his first studies in his hometown and later began to work in a business that his family owned in San Isidro..
A little before his twentieth birthday, Pascual Orozco married Refugio Frías. A little later, in 1902, he bought a mule to start working as a muleteer for the mining companies..
His economic position improved over the years and, by 1910, he was part of the rural middle class, as well as owning a store. Orozco even owned his own gold mine, La Soledad, in the municipality of Bocoyna.
These activities allowed him to amass a modest fortune that he used to finance his political activities..
Since 1879, Chihuahua had been characterized by political conflicts caused by the control exercised by the Terrazas family. This created the appropriate climate for both the Mexican Liberal Party, led by the Flores Magón brothers, and the Anti-reelectionist movement to gain much strength..
This last movement had appeared in the final stage of the Porfiriato. The main anti-reelection leader was Francisco I. Madero, who ran to try to succeed Porfirio Díaz.
Orozco began to be interested in the ideas of the Flores Magón brothers, leaders of the Mexican Liberal Party, from the beginning of the 20th century. With that background, Abraham González, who led the anti-reelectionists in Chihuahua, recruited him to support his cause.
During the years before the revolution, Orozco participated in some propaganda activities. In 1909, the authorities began to notice him for distributing literature contrary to the Porfiriato. That same year, it began importing weapons from the United States in view of a possible uprising..
Pascual Orozco was appointed head of the "Benito Juárez" Anti-reelection Club of the Guerrero district at the end of October 1910. One of his tasks was to find supporters who would join the revolution that was to break out a few days later..
Francisco Madero had to go into exile after Porfirio Díaz arrested him shortly before the elections. From his destination, he launched the Plan of San Luis, a political program that, in addition to the overthrow of Díaz, included aspects related to agrarian reform..
The Plan marked the date of November 20, 1910 to take up arms against the government. That appeal marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution..
Orozco seconded Madero's call and invested part of his money in buying weapons. In addition, he began to publish the anti-reelection newspaper Grito del Pueblo de Chihuahua.
Although with no previous military experience, Pascual Orozco joined the uprising on November 20 and soon began to gain prestige for his capabilities as a leader..
Thanks to his financial resources, Orozco organized a small armed force in the Chihuahua Guerrero area. His men managed to defeat the federal forces in several skirmishes.
His first great military triumph occurred in 1911. In Cañón del Mal Paso, his army surprised and defeated the troops of General Juan Navarro. Orozco ordered the federal uniforms to be sent to Porfirio Díaz, accompanied by a note that read "There you go the leaves, send me more tamales.".
Orozco demonstrated during this period an innate talent for warfare. His bellicose character, in addition, allowed him to rise quickly until reaching the rank of general. Among his subordinates was Francisco Villa, with whom he would have to face later.
In addition to the battle of the Mal Paso Canyon, Orozco fought clashes such as those of San Isidro, Pedernales or Cerro Prieto. Under his command, the revolutionary troops took Ciudad Juárez, a success that marked a turning point in the war. In that town the provisional capital of the rebels was installed.
In Ciudad Juárez, Madero appointed his first provisional government. Orozco wanted to be appointed Minister of War, but the leader of the revolution chose Venustiano Carranza for that position..
According to his biographers, Orozco was very disappointed with Madero's decision, who named him commander of the rural police zone in Chihuahua.
Porfirio Díaz ended up resigning from the presidency on May 25 and left the country a few days later for Europe.
On June 22, Orozco was appointed head of the rural forces of the state of Chihuahua. Three days later, he presented his candidacy to the elections for governor by the Independent Chihuahuense Center, an organization that opposed Madero and Abraham González.
However, he had to withdraw his candidacy when he did not meet one of the legal conditions to hold the position of governor: being over 30 years old. González was chosen for the position and kept Orozco as commander of the rural ones because of the prestige gained during the revolution..
Madero, confident of his support, put Orozco in command of the Chihuahua garrison to watch over Bernardo Reyes. However, Orozco had maneuvered politically in such a way that Reyes also thought the same.
In this troubled context, Madero had to confront both the agrarian leaders, Villa and Zapata, and the former supporters of Porfirio Díaz. This situation of weakness caused the government to be unable to implement the agrarian reform, which made Zapata take up arms.
In January 1912, Madero sent Orozco to fight Emiliano Zapata in the south of the country, but the order was revoked by Abraham González, then Secretary of the Interior..
In the middle of the same month of January, Madero held a meeting with Orozco. Although the content of the conversation is unknown, a few days later, on the 26th, Orozco resigned from command of the first rural area.
Meanwhile, the movement against Madero led by Emilio Vázquez continued in Chihuahua. The state forces were unable to appease him and the legislature proposed that Orozco fill the position of Abraham González, then Secretary of the Interior..
Orozco rejected this offer. Shortly after, he also rejected the offer of the federal government to occupy the governorship of Chihuahua.
On February 18, opponents of Madero proposed to Orozco that he take command of his troops. On March 1, the politician and military announced that he was retiring from public life, but two days later, pressured by the wealthy classes who feared Villa who was approaching with a column, he decided to accept the offer..
At the command of the garrison of the city of Chihuahua, Orozco rebelled against the Madero government, which he accused of having neglected the Plan of San Luis. Unlike the previous uprisings of Reyes and Vázquez Gómez, Orozco obtained the support of the popular masses and the middle classes, in addition to that of the upper class..
Their rebellion soon spread to Chihuahua and some areas of Sonora, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas..
The rebels accused Madero of being a despot and corrupt, in addition to ruling as inept. The peasants, for their part, complained that their situation was the same as under the Porfirio government..
On March 25, 1912, Pascual Orozco launched the so-called Empacadora Plan. In this, it proclaimed the validity of the 1857 constitution and accused the Madero government of not having carried out any of the reforms promised in its Plan of San Luis.
The Orozquistas troops achieved some victories, among which the one obtained in the First Battle of Rellano stood out. However, the federal forces, commanded by Victoriano Huerta, soon controlled the situation. Orozco, after his army suffered several defeats and lost Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, had to flee to the United States.
Huerta's work in suppressing the Orozco uprising made him a national hero. Shortly after, in February 1913, he rose up against the Madero government, in principle together with some supporters of the Porfirio Díaz regime..
The events that took place during the Huerta coup are known as the Tragic Ten. During those days, the military not only betrayed Madero, but also his Porfirian allies.
Huerta managed to remove Madero and his vice president, Pino Suárez. The two revolutionary leaders were assassinated shortly after by supporters of the coup.
After coming to power, Huerta established a fierce military dictatorship, dissolved in Congress and began a fierce campaign of repression against his opponents.
When Orozco learned of the assassinations of Madero and Pino Suárez, he met with Huerta's representatives to recognize him as president. On March 7, 1913, the Orozquista troops joined the irregular militias of the new government. In 1914, Orozco was promoted to Major General.
The Huerta government soon began to be fought by former revolutionaries, such as Zapata, Villa or Carranza..
Huerta commissioned Orozco to try to convince Zapata to join his ranks and he sent a group of negotiators, led by Pascual Orozco Sr., to negotiate with the revolutionary..
Zapata not only refused to join the Huertistas, but ordered the execution of Orozco Sr. and made it clear that he considered his son and his followers as traitors to the revolution..
To prevent Pascual Orozco from trying to avenge his father's death, Huerta sent him north to fight Francisco Villa. Despite his efforts, Orozco was repeatedly defeated by Villista forces..
Orozco continued to fight, without much success, against the revolutionaries until Huerta resigned in August 1914. Later, fearing reprisals from the Constitutionalists, he declared in rebellion against the new authorities..
His attempt at revolt was unsuccessful, since at that time he had neither popular support nor financial funds. Given this, Orozco had to take refuge again in the United States.
Pascual Orozco established his new residence in El Paso, Texas. There he dedicated himself to planning a new rebellion together with other exiles..
Victoriano Huerta joined Orozco's plan and contributed the support of Germany, which was trying to open a new war front in the face of the imminent entry of the United States into the First World War..
Orozco and Huerta's activities drew the attention of the US authorities, who proceeded to arrest them. Both were sentenced to house arrest on charges of violating the US neutrality policy..
Orozco managed to evade house arrest on July 3, 1915. He immediately crossed the border to try to gather forces and resume the fight against the Mexican government..
However, on August 30 of that same year, he was killed in the Verde River Canyon, in Culberson County, Texas, by the Rangers of that state..
Orozco was buried in El Paso, Texas, on September 3, 1915, in a ceremony attended by more than 3,000 of his compatriots..
On December 1, 1925, his remains were transferred to Chihuahua, his home state. There they rest in the Pantheon of Dolores in the state capital.
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