Victoriano Huerta

Victoriano Huerta was a president who ruled Mexico under a dictatorial regime , who united disparate revolutionary forces in common opposition to him. Born to Indian parents, Victoriano Huerta trained at the Chapultepec Military College and eventually reached the rank of general in the army during the government of dictator Porfirio Díaz . Although he was a great admirer of Porfirio Díaz, Huerta served his successor, the liberal president Francisco Madero, as Army Chief of Staff. When part of the Mexico City army rebelled against President Madero in February 1913, Huerta joined forces with the rebels, thus forcing Madero to resign and thus assumed the presidency.

What did Victoriano Huerta do

Huerta managed to dissolve the legislature and established a military dictatorship . His government was inefficient and severely repressive , and almost immediately he was confronted with opposition from the constitutionalist forces led by Venustiano Carranza , Álvaro Obregón , Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata . As president himself, he is only remembered for making Sunday a mandatory day of rest , which is why thousands of employees demonstrated for the Mutual Society of Free Employeesto celebrate this decision. Many of the black pages of Mexican history are attributed to Victoriano Huertas, since he was an ambitious and unscrupulous military man, who was capable of sacrificing the interests of his country so that he could obtain some kind of benefit.

Biography of Victoriano Huerta

Victoriano Huerta was born into a poor family in the state of Jalisco, Mexico . Huerta joined the military when he was just a teenager. He distinguished himself in the army and for this reason he was sent to the military academy in Chapultepec . Proving to be an efficient leader of men and a ruthless fighter , he was a favorite of the dictator Porfirio Díaz and quickly rose to the rank of general . Díaz commissioned him to suppress Indian uprisings , including a bloody campaign against the Mayans in Yucatán, in which Huerta razed towns and destroyed crops. He also fought the Americans . The General Huerta was one of the most reliable military leaders Diaz when the trouble started after an election in 1910. The opposition candidate, Francisco I. Madero , had been arrested and then fled to the exile , proclaiming the revolution from security in United States . Rebel leaders heeded the call, capturing cities, destroying trains and attacking federal forces whenever and wherever they found them. Huerta was sent to Cuernavaca, under Zapata’s attack, but the old regime was attacked from all sides, and Díaz accepted Madero’s offer to go into exile in May 1911. Huerta escorted the old dictator to Veracruz, where he was waiting for a steamer to take Díaz into exile. . Huerta, who was allied with Diaz, arrested at Madero on February 17. Before, he had him sign a resignation that designated Huerta as his successor, and then Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez were assassinated on February 21, because they supposedly wanted to escape.

Coup

Huerta knew that his days as president had ended after the crushing defeat he had suffered in Zacatecas . On July 15 , Huerta resigned and went into exile and lived in places like Spain , England and the United States . He kept hoping at all times to return and seize government power in Mexico , and when Carranza, Villa, Obregón and Zapata focused attention, he believed he saw his opportunity. In 1915 he met with Orozco to find a way to return to power but they were caught by federal agents of the United States.and they never crossed the border. Orozco escaped only to be chased and shot by Texas park rangers. Huerta was jailed for inciting the rebellion . He died in prison in January 1916 of cirrhosis, although there were rumors that the Americans had poisoned him.

Characteristics of his government

• He promoted a military-type government.
• He persecuted, threatened and murdered his opponents.
• The deputies were jailed.
• The country lost the support of the United States, which did not recognize Huerta as president.

Death

The president of the United States refused to recognize Huerta, and instead sent troops to occupy Veracruz and allowed weapons to reach the rebels. Defeated by constitutional forces, Huerta surrendered on July 15, 1914 and fled to Spain . He moved to the United States in 1915, where he was arrested on charges of fomenting rebellion in Mexico and died in custody at Fort Bliss.

Ideology of Victoriano Huerta

Its ideology was based on a repressive government in its entirety, with a series of aspects that only violated the sovereignty of the state and the rulers. He was a murderer and did not allow others to prosper.

Quotes by Victoriano Huerta

• I believe that a ruler of Mexico who does not have in his soul these defects or qualities (whatever you want to call them), will never triumph.
• I do not believe in public opinion or in the prestige of men. I believe that for a ruler it is the same as the men who surround him, distribute gold or murder. This I have checked in my administration. So for me, everything is success .
• I was selfish like Napoleon and suspicious like a rat. Napoleon was, in my opinion, the most selfish of men; without cultivating his egoism as he cultivated it, he would never have owned three-quarters of Europe . And it is well known that neither did he love women, for loving himself.