Maduro: fake friends
Previously:
It’s 1910 and after flip-flopping on running for reelection basically everyone was tired of Profirio Dias’s shit. So when he arrested the plucky upstart Francisco Madero and ran a sham election, both the north and the cooler parts of the south rose up in revolt.
Which parts? Time to introduce two of of the only Mexican historical figures many Americans can name.
In the north we have Pancho Villa:
And in the south we have Emiliano Zapata:
Zapata leads an armed rebellion in a region known as Morelos - just south of Mexico City. The area has been repeatedly fucked over by large landowners and Zapata represented a movement that had had enough. They weren’t going to rest until there was land redistribution, indigenous rights were recognized, and a host of other stuff detailed in a document called The Plan of Ayala.
While Zapata was bleeding Federal troops sent against him in the south, Villa was taking garrisons through daring and subterfuge; sometimes in the face of Madero trying to caution him off.
Dias saw the writing on the wall in a few short months and ran for it. Madero was elected president shortly thereafter.
President Madero kinda pulled an Emperor Maximilian. He tried to get Villa and Zapata to lay down their arms while filling posts with conservatives. This attempt at conciliatory inclusion managed to piss everyone off, he even had Villa imprisoned and ended up needing to continue to fight those Zapistas (who were still in it for land redistribution).
Having successfully pissed off his friends and embolded his enemies, you’ll never guess what happen next.
Coup d’etat! And not even the last one!
A multi-day running battle now referred to as The Ten Tragic Days ensued, pitting Madero against Profirio Dias’s failson (cousin) Felix. After getting the green light from the shithead US Ambassador, General Victoriano Huerta switches sides and seizes power.
Huerta executes Madero and becomes the clear winner in “the biggest asshole of the revolution” contest. Many Mexicans have complicated feelings about all the personalities so far, but not for this guy, then and now.
