Arámbula, José Doroteo Arango

(1878 –1923) – better known as Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals. As commander of the Division of the North, he was the veritable caudillo of the state of Chihuahua, which, given its size, mineral wealth, and proximity to the United States of America, provided him with extensive resources. Villa, provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914, and his supporters, known as Villistas, seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers, robbed trains and, like other revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for their cause. Villa’s dominance in northern Mexico was broken in 1915 through a series of defeats he suffered at the hands of Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles. After Villa’s famous raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916 U.S. General John J. Pershing tried unsuccessfully to capture him a in a nine-month pursuit that ended when the United States entered into World War I and Pershing was called back. Villa retired in 1920 and was given a large estate, which he turned into a “military colony” for his former soldiers. In 1923, he decided to reenter Mexican politics and was, probably as a result of that, assassinated, most likely on the orders of Obregón