Aureliano Blanquet

Aureliano Blanquet

Aureliano Blanquet (Morelia, Michoacán, 31 de diciembre de 1849 – 15 de abril de 1919 Barranca de Chavaxtla, Huatusco, Veracruz) was a general of the Federal Army during the Mexican Civil War. He was a key participant in the coup d'état during the Decena trágica.[1] Blanquet has been identified "as one of the major villains of the Mexican Revolution".[2]

Biography

Early career

Balanquet was born in 1849 in Morelia, Michoacán. At 18 he joined the Republican forces besieging the city of Queretaro where the last of Emperor Maximilian's Imperial troops had been trapped. After the surrender Balanquet served as a member of the firing squad which executed Maximilian and two of his generals.

In 1877 Blanquet enlisted in the regular Federal Army. Under Porfirio Diaz he made steady but unspectacular advancement. While holding the rank of captain he was involved in the suppression of a Maya rising in Yucatan during the 1890s.

During the Mexican Revolution

In July 1911 Blanquet commanded federal troops stationed in Puebla.[2] On July 12 a group of armed men fired shots at the rival Maderistas and fled into the federal army barracks.[2] The incident erupted into an all-out battle in which Blanquet defeated the Maderistas. 46 were killed, including women and children.[2][3] On the next day Madero publicly hugged Blanquet and cleared him of any wrongdoing; he ordered radical Maderistas to surrender arms to Blanquet's Federales and go home.[4] The Puebla Incident also created international tension after the fleeing Maderistas killed German and Spanish expatriates who stood in their way.[4]

In June 1913, General Victoriano Huerta dismissed General Mondragon as Secretary of War, and replaced him with Blanquet.[5] Now promoted to the rank of General of Division, Blanquet was also appointed to hold the position of Minister of Marine (i.e. Navy).

In October 1913 Huerta dissolved the Federal Congress and prepared for a rigged referendum to legitimize himself as the President, with Blanquet named as Vice-President.[6]

In July 1914, when the Huerta government collapsed, Blanquet resigned as Vice President, and departed from Mexico with Huerta. [7][8]

On August 19, 1914 Blanquet his 29th battalion of 400 men and other federal troops against the Carrancistas in Puebla. He captured the city and received a tip that two Carrancistas agents, brothers Ramon and Raphael Cabrera, where on their way to Puebla. Blanquet's federals captured the Cabreras and shot them on Blanquet's order. The two surviving Cabrera brothers, Luiz and Alfonso, avenged the dead with a campaign of terror, killing over sixty Federal officers.[9]

Death

In March 1919, Blanquet returned from exile in Cuba, to support the Felix Díaz rebellion against Carranza. With only about six followers he moved inland from the Gulf Coast in an attempt to join up with Diaz. On April 7, 1919, Blanquet was killed when his horse fell down a ravine after a skirmish with government troops near La Barranca de Chavaxtla, Veracruz.[10] The Constitutionalist commander General Guadalupe Sanchez had Blanquet's head taken to Veracruz for display and photographing.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Blanquet Led Coup D'etat. But Diaz's Attitude and Strong Position Caused Madero's Downfall.". New York Times. 1913-02-20. Retrieved 2010-03-06. Although Gen. Felix Diaz knew nothing of the arrest of Francisco I. Madero until Gen. Victoriano Huerta and Gen. Aureliano Blanquet had captured the Mexican President in his quarters in the National Palace yesterday morning, it was the rebel leader, nevertheless, who brought about the downfall of the Madero Government.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Henderson, p. 65.
  3. ↑ David LaFrance, “The Mexican Revolution in Puebla” 1989, p115
  4. 1 2 Henderson, p. 66.
  5. ↑ Peter Henderson, “Felix Díaz” 1981, p101
  6. ↑ LaFrance, p. 7.
  7. ↑ John Eisenhower, “Intervention!” 1993, p149
  8. ↑ Michael Meyer, “Huerta” 1972, p208
  9. ↑ LaFrance, p. 49.
  10. ↑ Peter Henderson, “Felix Díaz” 1981, p141

References


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