Venustiano Carranza

Born into a wealthy cattle-ranching family, Venustiano Carranza followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Mexican army. He became a supporter of Francisco I. Madero in Madero's efforts to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Gen. Porfirio Díaz. When this proved successful, Madero appointed Carranza as Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy. However, soon after assuming power Madero was assassinated in a coup masterminded by Gen. Victoriano Huerta, forcing Carranza to flee. He organized an army to fight against Huerta, and allied his forces with those of rebels (and former bandits) Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. The combined rebel army encircled Mexico City--Huerta's base--and fought their way to the city's gates. They soon took the city, forcing Huerta to flee, and Carranza, Villa and Zapata took over the government. Soon, however, Carranza and Villa locked horns and in the ensuing power struggle, Villa was driven from Mexico City and retreated back to his headquarters in Durango. In 1915 Carranza assumed the presidency of Mexico and set about to make many needed reforms. He introduced an independent judiciary, instituted land reform, decentralized government power and called for a Constitutional convention, which was convened in 1917. A new constitution was written--which is still used today--and he was elected as the first president under this constitution. However, many forces were arrayed against him, including his former allies Villa and Zapata, who thought his reforms didn't go far enough, and many wealthy landowners and the Catholic Church, who thought that his reforms were too radical. Carranza placed a bounty on Zapata's head, which eventually resulted in his assassination, and Carranza's army hunted down Villa in northern Mexico. As his presidential term drew to a close, however, he offended several powerful military and political leaders by picking a man they did not approve of to succeed him. In 1920 an alliance of these leaders, headed by Gen. Álvaro Obregón, led a rebellion against Carranza. His forces were defeated and he fled Mexico City. He headed toward Vera Cruz to reorganize, but on 5/21/20, he stopped in a house in the town of Tlaxacalantongo to spend the night. Obregon's spies learned of his whereabouts, and later that night the house was attacked by Obregon's men and Carranza was shot and killed.