Gustavo A. Madero

Gustavo A. Madero.

Gustavo Adolfo Madero also known to many as "Ojo Pardo" (1875 – 18 February 1913), born in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, Mexico, was a participant in the Mexican Revolution against Porfirio Díaz along with other members of his wealthy family.

Madero's brother, Francisco I. Madero, was president of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. During the coup d'état in Mexico City known as La decena trágica ("the ten tragic days"), Gustavo Madero was killed after being tortured in 1913 by order of Victoriano Huerta and U.S. ambassador Henry Lane Wilson.

A borough in Mexico City is named after Gustavo A. Madero

Growing Up

Born as one of fifteen children on January 16th 1875, in Parras de la Fuente, located between Torreon and Saltillo in the state of Coahuila, Gustavo Madero grew up in one of the richest families of Mexico. The Portuguese-Jewish Madero family had settled in Northern Mexico in the early nineteenth century. Grandfather Evaristo had founded the Compañía Industrial de Parras. In the later part of the nineteenth century the Madero family business extended from vineyards, cotton, and textiles, to mining, milling, smelting, ranching, and banking. Gustavo went to high school at the Colegio San Juan, a Jesuit school in Saltillo. For further high school studies and to learn English, the two oldest Madero brothers, Gustavo and Francisco attended Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland but stayed only for a year. In 1887, made possible with the financial support of his father, Gustavo and his older brother Francisco moved to France where they attendedthe Lycee of Versailles and finally received a baccalaureate. Gustavo went on to study business management at Hautes Études Commerciales in Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris. After the two brothers settled back in Mexico, Gustavo joined Francisco as confidante and chief of staff for a run at the presidency of Mexico.

Mexican Revolution

There were many divisions within the Madero family; some of its members wished for a peace agreement, hoping to avoid the problems that the civil war would bring to their businesses and investments. Talks were arranged in New York with José Yves Limantour, the finance minister of the Díaz government, but these failed as the revolution continued and peace negotiations broke down.

Financing his brother's revolution required serious funding. Gustavo through family contacts went to New York in 1910. His main contact was the Washington lawyer and lobbyist Sherburne Hopkins. For a fee of $50,000 Gustavo signed him on to represent and promote the revolutionary movement his brother Francisco led against the Dictator Porfirio Diaz. Hopkins brought the New York financiers Henry Clay Pierce and Charles Ranlett Flint on board. Both had financial interest in the Mexican railroads and oil. Their main competitors, John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil and Lord Cowdray of the El Aguila Oil Company supported the Diaz regime. Thus, in the spring of 1911, the rivalry between international oil barons and the help of Sherburne Hopkins allowed Gustavo to raise the funds needed to depose the aging dictator of Mexico.

After the success of the revolution, Gustavo remained his brother's closest confidante, although he did not hold public office. One of the most important tools of Gustavo's power between May 1911 and February 1913 was the Mexican Secret Service which he headed. Originally established and financed by Sherburne Hopkins, Gustavo through his lieutenant Felix A. Sommerfeld put down the most serious challenges to Francisco Madero's government. In the fall of 1911, Bernardo Reyes, an exiled general and competitor for the presidency in 1910, rose in revolt from San Antonio, Texas. The uprising fizzled by Christmas and Reyes was arrested. A few months later, another disgruntled revolutionary, Pascual Orozco who had fought alongside Madero to defeat Diaz, challenged the government in a massive uprising that covered much of northern Mexico. Again, Gustavo sent Sommerfeld to the border. The Mexican secret service cooperated closely with agents of the American Bureau of Investigations, customs and military officials to put down the uprising. Another uprising in Veracruz in the fall of 1912, this time headed by Felix Diaz, a relative of the deposed dictator, also fell victim to the efficient secret service under Gustavo's control. In the process, however, Gustavo made many serious enemies. Felix Diaz and Bernardo Reyes plotted their next moves from their jail cells. Victoriano Huerta, the army chief who the Mexican president fired for disloyalty on Gustavo's advice, seethed with resentment.

The Ten Tragic Days

In February 1913, the final push of the reactionary forces to push out the democratically elected Mexican government took shape. Felix Diaz, Bernardo Reyes and a host of members of the old regime plotted to take control of Mexico City first and then the entire country. As the assault started on February 9, Reyes and Diaz marched on the presidential palace. In a shootout with troops Gustavo had frantically assembled in the early morning hours, Reyes was killed. Madero's secretary of war Lauro Villar Ochoa was seriously injured. The president appointed Victoriano Huerta who professed undivided loyalty to Madero to replace him. However, Gustavo quickly uncovered the participation of Victoriano Huerta in the conspiracy. On February 17 he arrested Huerta and brought him before the president. Against Gustavo's advice, Huerta remained in charge of the military. Eventually, the Madero government collapsed. Gustavo was ambushed and arrested inside the Gambrinus restaurant on February 18. That night he was tortured and killed on the orders of the military. On the same day, the American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, Victoriano Huerta and Félix Díaz sighned an agreement cementing the coup d'etat, titled the Pact of the Embassy.

References in popular culture

Gustavo A. Madero, and his brother Francisco mentioned in the 1992 book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. Alejandra's great aunt is said to have been associated with the two men when they were young, and even had an ill-fated romantic relationship with Gustavo. The brothers' betrayal and execution are also mentioned in the book.

After his death, an etching of his body was made by famous artist José Guadalupe Posada and published on a broadside by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo telling the story of his life and ultimate death by firing squad.

External links

• A short biography of Gustavo A. Madero