Venustiano Carranza

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Lore & Background

Venustiano Carranza was born in the town of Cuatro Ciénegas, in the state of Coahuila, in 1859, to a prosperous cattle-ranching family of Basque descent. He studied at the Ateneo Fuente, a famous Liberal school in Saltillo, and in 1874 went to the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in Mexico City, where he had aspirations to be a doctor. He entered local politics in Coahuila during the Díaz era, becoming municipal president of Cuatro Ciénegas in 1887. In 1893, 300 Coahuila ranchers organized an armed resistance to oppose the re-election of Porfirio Díaz's supporter José María Garza Galán as Governor of Coahuila; Venustiano Carranza and his brother Emilio participated in this uprising. Díaz's man in the north, Bernardo Reyes, agreed with Carranza's justification for the uprising, and Díaz appointed a different governor. Carranza later served as a senator for his state during the Porfiriato, appointed by Díaz. After becoming alienated from Díaz, he supported Francisco Madero's challenge to Díaz during the 1910 presidential election. Following Madero's murder during the counter-revolutionary Ten Tragic Days coup in February 1913, Carranza drew up the Plan of Guadalupe, a political strategy to oust Madero's usurper, General Victoriano Huerta. He organized militias loyal to his state and allied northern states into a professional army, the Constitutional Army, to oppose Huerta. The Constitutionalists defeated Huerta's Federal Army and Huerta was ousted in July 1914.

Reader's Guide

Carranza's significance lies in his role as the leading figure of the Constitutionalist faction during the Mexican Revolution and his central part in drafting the Constitution of 1917, which was the world's first constitution to guarantee social rights under the umbrella of constitutional rights. He maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I. However, his legacy is mixed: he did not implement the constitution's social and land reforms once in office, instead focusing on internal security by eliminating his political rivals. He ordered Zapata's assassination in 1919. In the 1920 election, in which he could not succeed himself, Carranza attempted to impose a virtually unknown, civilian politician, Ignacio Bonillas, as president of Mexico. Sonoran revolutionary generals Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Adolfo de la Huerta rose up against Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Carranza fled Mexico City, along with thousands of his supporters and with gold of the Mexican treasury, aiming to set up a rival government in Veracruz but he was assassinated in 1920. Historical evaluations of his leadership have fluctuated as he has been praised for attempting to bring political stability to Mexico and toppling the dictatorship of Huerta. However, he is criticized by some for not enforcing the constitution's social and land reforms, as well as for his role in the death of Emiliano Zapata. Carranza is buried alongside other prominent revolutionary leaders at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City.

Did You Know?

• Carranza was the 11th of 15 children.
• He married Virginia Salinas on May 12, 1882, the daughter of another wealthy landowner, and the couple had two daughters.
• Carranza's father, Jesús Carranza Neira, was Benito Juárez's main contact in Coahuila and lent Juárez money while Juárez's republican government was in exile.
• Carranza maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I.
• Carranza ordered the assassination of Emiliano Zapata in 1919.