96th anniversary of Doroteo Arango’s mournful death, better known as the General “Pancho Villa”

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Lerdo, Durango.- In the framework of the ninety-six anniversary of Doroteo Arango’s mournful death, better known as the General “Francisco Villa”, residents of the colonies Francisco Villa Sur and Norte met at the monument located between both housing sectors to place a floral offering, besides highlighting the facts of this national hero.

Even, militants of the Labor Party in coordination with the residents rescued this historical monument that was in total neglect and abandonment, for which they made a clean and painted him to be a victim of graffiti.

Regarding Ruben de la Rosa Sosa, PT ruler and Candelario Delgado, member of this Party, indicated that the neighbors and both housing sectors and PTs decided to rescue this historic monument, not only for Lerdo, but for the rest of the country; Therefore, they decided to improve it in its entirety.

Even the militants announced that once the elected mayor, Homero Martínez, begins his triennium in the month of next September, he will be asked for restoration to dignify the area that was in complete abandonment.

In addition, they will request the placement of an area to delimit the monument, in order not to litter or be subject to graffiti.

The two colonies emerged three decades ago, so in honor of General Francisco Villa built the monument for the great feats and benefits he achieved for Mexico.

PANCHO VILLA, THE HEADACHE OF THE UNITED STATES

“That Pershing came here like an eagle and went like a wet hen,” said Pancho Villa when he learned of the withdrawal of the Americans who during some months of 1916 occupied part of the northern territory of the republic in search of the only man who dared to invade a population of the United States.

A famous corrido of the time sings for history: “Patria México, February 23rd /, Carranza left to pass Americans / two thousand soldiers, two hundred airplanes / looking for Villa wanting to kill him”. The Punitive Expedition, however, was a disaster. General Pershing, commander-in-chief of the expedition, never had any certainty as to where Villa was. From March to June, cavalry, infantry, and even a small air force traveled dozens of kilometers to capture it.

Villa was a headache for the invading troops and they never had a fortune. Until World War 1 it acted in favor of the guerrilla: the troops of Pershing left Mexico to embark with final destiny to Europe. The time that everything transforms, turned the invasion of Columbus into one more myth of those created around the figure of Pancho Villa – despite the fact that the greatest number of casualties was for the Villista guerrilla. For the neighbor of the north a question remained in the air: Who was that man who openly challenged the powerful country?

The centaur soon forgot his feat -one more- and in 1920 he surrendered to the federal government to die murdered on July 20, 1923. In the first days of February 1926, a piece of chilling news swept the country. Villa’s grave had been raped and the head was severed from the corpse. The gossips pointed to the Americans as guilty. Not without some sarcasm, the  vox populi He tried to give an explanation to the event: some Americans were still perplexed about what happened in 1916 and by not giving any credit to Villa’s capacity -invasive invasions could only be perpetrated by the United States- they thought it convenient to study his brain -or what was left. of him- to know scientifically what the centaur had in his head. Perhaps they expected to find some indication that Villa had American blood, or how else could they explain the invasion? The head was never found. Years later the rest of his corpse was transferred to the monument to the Revolution, along with Carranza, for whom Villa was also, curiously, a headache.

This publication is a fragment of the article “Headache of the head” of the author Alejandro Rosas Robles and was published in full in the edition of  Stories and Stories in Mexico,  no. 24

Source: noticiasdelsoldelalaguna, relatosehistorias

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