Pablo González Garza
Encyclopedia
Pablo González Garza was a Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....

 General during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

. He is considered to be the main organizer of the assassination of Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution...

.

Early life

He grew up in the town of Nadadores
Nadadores
Nadadores is a city in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila.it serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name.Nadadores is located at ,in the state's central region ....

, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...

 where his parents owned a store. He was orphaned at six years old. Eventually, he received a scholarship to the military academy in Chapultepec
Chapultepec
Chapultepec Park, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" in Mexico City, is the largest city park in Latin America, measuring in total just over 686 hectares. Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the park's main functions is to be an ecological space in the vast...

 but decided not finish his studies. In the early years of the twentieth century he worked in a foundry, on the railroad and for a oil company, in various places in northern Mexico and southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Early part of Mexican Revolution

In 1907, through his cousin, he met the anarchist Enrique Flores Magón
Enrique Flores Magón
Enrique Flores Magón was a Mexican journalist and politician, associated with the Mexican Liberal Party and anarchism...

. Pablo participated in Francisco Madero's insurrection against Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

 in 1911. His forces occupied Monclova
Monclova
On the other hand, temperatures during late spring and summer can have bouts of extreme heat, with evenings above 40°C for many consecutive days. In recent decades the hottest records have climbed as high as 43°C on July 13, 2005 and 45°C on May 4, 1984. However nighttime low temperatures are...

 and Cuatro Ciénegas
Cuatro Ciénegas
Cuatro Ciénegas is a city in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. It stands at , at an average elevation of 740 metres above sea level. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name....

 for Madero. Subsequently, in 1912, he fought against the rebellion of Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco Vazquez was a Mexican revolutionary leader who, after the triumph of the Mexican Revolution, rose up against Francisco I...

. Later, after Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...

's coup d'état against Madero, Gonzalez fought against Huerta and Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco Vazquez was a Mexican revolutionary leader who, after the triumph of the Mexican Revolution, rose up against Francisco I...

 in Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...

. While at the time Gonzalez was considered a rising military star, Orozco beat him in every encounter, which contributed to Gonzalez eventually becoming known as "the general who never won a victory". This ill reputation followed him in subsequent years. In a later interview with Blasco Ibanez Carranza stated that "General González commanded the largest forces in the Revolution and he came out of it with the unique honor of having lost every battle in which he was engaged."

Under Carranza

Later on he was appointed chief of the Army of the Northeast in the government of Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...

 and in 1914 occupied Monterrey, Tampico
Tampico
Tampico is a city and port in the state of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, directly north across the border from Veracruz. Tampico is the third largest city in Tamaulipas, and counts with a population of 309,003. The Metropolitan area of...

 and other places for him. Gonzalez's occupation of Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...

, along with the Battle of Zacatecas
Battle of Zacatecas
The Battle of Zacatecas, also known as the Toma de Zacatecas , was the bloodiest battle in the campaign to overthrow Mexican President Victoriano Huerta. On June 23, 1914, Pancho Villa's División del Norte decisively defeated the troops of General Luís Medina Barrón defending the town of Zacatecas...

, was crucial in Huerta's defeat and subsequent decision to go into exile. At the same time, Alvaro Obregon
Álvaro Obregón
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....

 was appointed to lead the Army of the Northwest, which was a position equivalent to that of Gonzalez. Since Obregon viewed Gonzalez as an incompetent general, this contributed to his resentment of Carranza which was going to bear fruit later.

Against the Zapatistas

He was also in charge of pacification of the Zapatista rebellion in Morelos
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....

 during the fighting between Emiliano Zapata and Carranza, where he earned a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness. Gonzalez' manifesto of July 19, 1916 explicitly stated that Morelos civilians, including women and children, who were perceived as supporters of Zapata, were going to be massacred (though officially counted among those who died in battle). In his pacification campaigns, Gonzalez reinstitute the practice of Victoriano Huerta and Porfirio Diaz of shipping captured peasants to Yucatan
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....

 for heavy forced labor. To combat Gonzalez Zapata decided to provide arms to individual villages, even those not directly under his control, so that they could form effective self defense units. This policy eventually back fired on Zapata as after Gonzalez left, the villagers used the weapons against Zapatista foraging parties which in turn led to numerous conflicts between the peasants and the rebel troops that were supposed to represent their cause.

Gonzalez was mostly successful in squashing the rebellion in Morelos for the time being, mostly because of help from a turncoat Zapatista general Sidronio Camacho
Sidronio Camacho
Sidronio Camacho was one of the soldiers of Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution, and the killer of Emiliano's brother, Eufemio.On June 18, 1917, Camacho killed Emiliano's brother, Eufemio Zapata, who had beaten up Camacho's father, at the time Eufemio's second in command, supposedly for...

 (who had killed Zapata's brother, Eufemio) who provided him with crucial intelligence. However, after the break out of another revolt in Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...

, led by Lucio Blanco
Lucio Blanco
Lucio Blanco was a Mexican military officer, noteworthy for his participation in the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920.-Biography:...

, Gonzalez was recalled and Zapata reclaimed his home state.

Assassination of Zapata

He was the mastermind behind the assassination of Emiliano Zapata, which was carried out by his Colonel, Jesus Guajardo. In early 1919 disagreements arose between González and Guajardo, and after learning of these, Zapata wrote a letter to Guajardo, asking him to join the Zapatistas. The letter was intercepted by González who blackmailed Guajardo and used it as an opportunity to set up an ambush for Zapata. Guajardo, after making a show of loyalty to Zapata by executing a turn coat Zapatista chief, Victoriano Barcena, arranged a meeting with Zapata at Chinameca
Chinameca, Morelos
Chinameca is a Location in the Mexican state of Morelos. At Hacienda de Chinameca Pablo González, general serving Venustiano Carranza, ordered Coronel Jesús Guajardo the assassination of Mexican Revolutionist Emiliano Zapata, on april 10, 1919....

 Hacienda at which he was supposed to deliver badly needed ammunitions. After Zapata arrived,on April 10, 1919, a guard of honor
Guard of Honor
Guard of Honor is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by James Gould Cozzens published in 1948. The novel is set during World War II, with most of the action occurring on or near a fictional Army Air Forces base in central Florida. The action occurs over a period of approximately 48 hours...

 presented arms to him, but on the third signal of the bugle
Bugle
Bugle is a brass musical instrument.Bugle may also refer to:* Contrabass bugle, lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline* Bugle , common names of flowering plant genus Ajuga...

 they opened up fire at point blank range, killing Zapata.

Break with Carranza

In the election of 1920, President Carranza promoted the civilian Ignacio Bonillas
Ignacio Bonillas
Ignacio Bonillas Frajio was a Mexican diplomat. He was a Mexican ambassador to the United States and held a degree in mine engineering from M.I.T....

 as his successor, to the great displeasure of his generals, particularly Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....

, who wanted the presidency for himself. After Carranza attempted to arrest him, Obregon led a military revolt.

Initially González remained loyal to Carranza. However, most officers in his army supported Obregon, and his ally, Plutarco Calles and vehemently opposed Bonillas. As a result Gonzalez declared his own candidacy for the presidency. In April 1919, Carranza demanded that Gonzalez drop his election bid and give his full support to Bonillas. On April 30, Gonzalez officially broke with Carranza, although instead of arresting him and immediately occupying Mexico City (most of the troops in the region supported him), he allowed Carranza to escape to Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

 and he himself withdrew to nearby Texcoco
Texcoco, Mexico State
Texcoco is a city and municipality located in the northeast portion of Mexico State, 25 km northeast of Mexico City. In the pre-Hispanic era, this was a major Aztec city on the shores of Lake Texcoco. After the Conquest, the city was initially the second most important after Mexico City,...

.

During the interim presidency of Adolfo de la Huerta
Adolfo de la Huerta
Felipe Adolfo de la Huerta Marcor was a Mexican politician and interim President of Mexico from June 1 to December 1, 1920....

, Gonzalez was accused of treason and sedition and arrested. He was initially sentenced to be executed, but was pardoned and instead went into exile in the US.

Later life

After Obregon's victory over Carranza and then presidency, Gonzalez returned to Mexico. He retired from active duty and politics and went into business. He was left almost destitute by the collapse of his bank, and died in 1950 in the city of Monterrey.
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