Huerta, Victoriano (1854–1916)

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Huerta, Victoriano (1854–1916)

Victoriano Huerta was a Mexican general who became president of the Republic after heading the coup d'état that overthrew Francisco Madero in February 1913. He stepped down in July 15, 1914, following the revolutionary surge that forced him to resign and go into exile.

José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was born March 23, 1854, in Colotlán, Jalisco, and had a brilliant career in the military academy. He distinguished himself by his military skills and his strength of character. He won prestige by successfully putting down rebellions led by Canuto Neri in Guerrero in 1893, and by the Mayan Indians of the Yucatán and Quintana Roo in 1901–1902. These campaigns brought him recognition and promotions. In 1905 he was a close associate of Bernardo Reyes, the most prestigious and powerful officer of Porfirio Díaz's army, and became one of his staunch supporters. When Reyes was disgraced, Huerta continued serving in the army but with a much lower profile.

Huerta's well-known association with Reyes, his military skill, and his prestige within the army put him in an ambivalent relationship with Francisco Madero once the latter took power. Madero distrusted him, but at the same time needed him, both to reach out to Reyes supporters and to win the support of the armed forces. He therefore ordered him to lead campaigns against the three largest anti-Madero rebellions: one led by Pascual Orozco in the north, in which Huerta won a distinguished victory; one led by Emiliano Zapata in Morelos, whom he was unable to vanquish; and finally, the rebellion that cost the life of Madero, led by Bernardo Reyes and Félix Díaz in Mexico City.

With this rebellion, Huerta heeded the pressure coming from the army and the nation's economic, religious, and political elites, who had decided to put an end to the political instability generated by Madero's rule and overthrow him. Huerta headed up the betrayal and maneuvered deftly to get rid of Félix Díaz and become president, using a legal ploy that culminated in the resignation and assassination of Madero and vice-president Pino Suárez: According to the Mexican legislation in the absence of the president, the minister of foreign affairs would occupy the position; Huerta forced the congress to appoint him, so when Madero resigned, and his substitute Pedro Lascurain resigned the same day he assumed the presidency, Huerta became president legally.

The legal but illegitimate methods that Huerta used to gain power, together with general outrage at the assassination of the former president and vice-president, cost him popular support. The government soon became isolated and had to resort to repression to stay in power in the face of rising opposition movements led by the Constitutionalist faction and Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. Huerta dissolved the congress and wielded dictatorial powers that were still insufficient to contain the revolution, which defeated and cornered the federal army. Huerta was forced to resign and leave the country in July 1914. Huerta's behavior triggered the culmination of the revolutionary process that Madero had left unfinished. The revolution became more radical in those years, and ended in the elimination of the federal army and the dissolution of the regime created by Porfirio Díaz, of whom Huerta was the last representative.

In March 1915 Huerta entered the United States, where he became involved in counterrevolutionary activities. The U.S. authorities arrested him and imprisoned him at Fort Bliss. Because of his sickness, he was set free for two weeks November 1915, but returned to jail by mid December. He died in his house of cirrhosis January 13, 1916, in El Paso, Texas.