Victoriano Huerta
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Commander of federal forces during the Mexican Revolution, Victoriano Huerta (b. 1854) became President of Mexico in 1913, after the arrest and before the assassination of Francisco Madero. Huerta resigned a year later and went into exile. In 1915, U.S. agents arrested him in Newman, New Mexico, where he was meeting fellow revolutionary Pascual Orozco. For violating U.S. neutrality laws, Huerta was taken to Fort Bliss and confined. Huerta's health deteriorated before he could stand trial, and authorities released him to his El Paso home on West Yandell Street. In January 1916, Huerta died and was buried in Concordia Cemetery before being reinterred in Evergreen Cemetery. He is the only former foreign president buried in El Paso. (2007)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Victoriano Huerta, a commander of Mexican federal forces, seized the presidency of Mexico in 1913 amid the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution, in the interval between Francisco Madero's arrest and assassination. He resigned and fled into exile a year later. In 1915 U.S. agents arrested him in New Mexico for violating neutrality laws; confined at Fort Bliss and then his El Paso home, he died in January 1916—the only former foreign head of state buried in El Paso.
Why it matters
Huerta's El Paso exile and death capture the way the U.S.-Mexico border became entangled in the intrigues and violence of the Mexican Revolution.
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Related people
- · Victoriano Huerta
- · Francisco Madero
- · Pascual Orozco
Related events
- · Mexican Revolution
Themes & tags
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