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ROBLES: ALL PEOPLE OF MORELOS ARE BANDITS
Mexican History 1912
Mexican Revolution
Timeline - Year 1912
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Early January 1912
Classic
guerrilla warfare is ON.
Emiliano
Zapata commands approx. 800 trained
troops and 2,000 willing peasants who can wield a fork any darn
given day.
They are facing approx. 1,000 federal troops and about
5,000 police.
Zapata's men have the advantage of a better local
knowledge and of course the peasant support. |
January 17, 1912
Ambrosio Figueroa resigns as governor of the state of
Morelos. New interim governor is Francisco Naranjo.
The president declares martial law in
Morelos, Guerrero, Tlaxcala, and in 13 districts in Puebla and
Mexico City.
January 25, 1912
The newspaper Diario del Hogar comments that the "government
had committed an extremely grave error in condemning the deep social
problem in
Morelos as mere banditry."
January 26, 1912
The president releases
Zapata's former chief of staff,
Abrahám
Martínez, and sends him to negotiate with Zapata. But Zapata is
done talking.
Also on this day,
Genovevo de la O moves
in on Cuernavaca. With him are 3,000 troops.
February 4, 1912
The new military commander for Morelos is Brigadier General
Juvencio
Robles, a man described as extremely cruel and who
would make
Victoriano Huerta's methods seem like those of a saint.
On this day,
the newspaper El Pais quotes Robles as saying that all people
of
Morelos are bandits, and that he was going to put an end to it
shortly. (See top of page.)
February 6, 1912
Genovevo de la O declares he is soon going to blow up every train attempting
to cross the mountains into the state, and went on with his
offensive against Cuernavaca.
At the end of the first week in February
1912,
Juvencio
Robles arrives in Cuernavaca to deal with De la O's threat.
February 9, 1912
The feds raze Santa María and burn the whole thing to the ground.
Genovevo de la O's daughter dies in the flames.
February 10,
1912
In Villa de Ayala, federal troops seize
Zapata's mother-in-law,
sister, and two sisters-in-law. They bring them to Cuernavaca as
hostages.
February 27, 1912
The rebels, led by General Emilio Campa,
take Juárez without bloodshed.
February 28, 1912
Revolutionary generals Antonio Rojas and
Inez Salazar join general
Emilio Campa in Juarez. They prepare to move with their troops
towards Chihuahua.
February and early March 1912
Very cruel times.
Juvencio
Robles goes on a burning spree. And the
unfortunate villages are: San Rafael, Ticuman, Los Hornos, Coajo Mulco, Ocotepec, and Nexpa,
and of course every field he could get a match on.
The inhabitants are either corralled and
put into special labor camps or told to report each day. Especially
men of military age are sent to labor camps outside the state. Many
will never return.
Hung people dangling from whatever
high spot was nearest at the time is a common sight. People
are shot by the dozen, with or without charges, nobody gives a damn
anymore.
Soldiers turn bandits. They murder, rape, and steal their way
through the state of
Morelos.
The recent events are an eye opener for
the peasants. Having lost either home or family, or both, they join
Zapata's
army.
March 3, 1912
Pascual Orozco
revolts in Chihuahua. Federal troops withdraw from
Morelos to
regroup.
March 23, 1912
First Battle of Rellano. Chihuahua rebels against
federal troops. Crushing defeat for the Feds. The federal
commander General Gonzalez Salas commits suicide during the
subsequent retreat.
Mexico City is freaked. In total panic,
they drag
Huerta
back out of retirement.
April 1, 1912
Rebel commanders Neri and
Salazar sweep into Tepoztlán,
in the north of
Morelos.
April 2, 1912
Zapata's troops capture Jonacatepec.
April 6, 1912
Zapata joins
Mendoza,
Vazquez and others for joint attacks on Tlaquiltenango, Tlaltizapan and Jojutla.
Second week of April 1912
Federal troops reoccupy Tepoztlan, Jonacatepec and Jonutla.
April 30, 1912
Eufemio Zapata
returns lands to the peasants at Ixcamilpa, Puebla, that had
previously been taken from them.
May 1912
Zapata withdraws into eastern Guerrero. Stalemate. Zapata sets up
camp in the region south of Chilpancingo.
Early May 1912
Naranjo sends a complaint about
Juvencio
Robles to
Madero.
Mid-May 1912
Naranjo announces that law and order are soon to be restored.
Third week of May 1912
State elections
May 23, 1912
Second Battle of Rellano.
Victoriano
Huerta leads the Federals,
Pascual Orozco
leads the rebels. Orozco has to stomach a heavy defeat and retreats
north.
June 4, 1912
Victoriano
Huerta puts
Pancho Villa in prison in Mexico City on
charges of persistent insubordination and refusal to return stolen
horses.
July 1, 1912
Huerta is still on
Orozco's heels. Orozco moves his headquarters
from Chihuahua City to Ciudad Juarez.
July 6, 1912
Huerta's victory at
Bachimba.
July 8, 1912
Huerta enters Chihuahua City.
Madero and Huerta hate each other's guts,
but Madero promotes Huerta Major General.
Mid-June 1912
Juvencio
Robles gets assigned to Puebla.
Felipe Ángeles is his
successor. Felipe was previously the director of the National
Military College, a man who promotes sympathy and leniency.
July 17, 1912
State deputies of
Morelos assemble in Cuernavaca. These guys had
just been recently elected at the end of May 1912. None of them was
a plantation owner.
July 20, 1912
Genovevo de la O attacks a train at the Parres station, just a few
miles over the border in the Federal District. Nearly 100
casualties, many of them civilians.
Shortly after this attack
Zapata and
Jesús Morales push their troops northward from Guerrero into
southwest
Morelos, thus threatening Jojutla and Yautepec.
July 22, 1912
Francisco Naranjo officially succeeds
Ambrosio Figueroa as
governor of
Morelos. Ambrosio had already resigned on January 17,
1912.
August 5, 1912
The new deputies of
Morelos are giving
Naranjo the boot, as
he was not officially appointed / elected. The new interim governor
for Morelos is Aniceto Villamar, a lawyer from Tepoztlán.
Aniceto will remain in office until December 1, 1912.
October 16, 1912
Félix Díaz, nephew of the old dictator
Porfirio Diaz, initiates a
revolt and seizes the port of Veracruz. But nobody supports
him and his uprising collapses quickly within a few days.
October 23, 1912
Félix Díaz
goes
to prison in Mexico City.
Felix
will strike again early next year.
December 1, 1912
Interim governor Aniceto Villamar
steps down in favor of the new governor of
Morelos
Patricio Leyva.
The year 1912 ended in peace.
Zapata's
family was released from Cuernavaca jail.
Orozco remains in hiding
in the US.
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