Amador Salazar Jiménez (30 April 1868 – 16 April 1916) was a Mexican military leader who participated in the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

Early life

He was born in Cuernavaca,

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

on April 30, 1868, as the son of León Salazar and Gertrudes Jiménez.Bibliotecas Virtuales de Mexico, "Amador Salazar Jimenez" 1868-1916", quoting Valentín López González, "Los Compañeros de Zapata", 1980,

He was also a cousin of Emiliano Zapata,Samuel Brunk, "Emiliano Zapata: Revolution & Betrayal in Mexico", UNM Press, 1995, pg. 190

/ref> as his father was brother to Zapata's mother, Doña Cleofas Salazar. Before the outbreak of the revolution, Salazar worked as a laborer on the estate of the governor of Morelos and chief of staff to

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

, Pablo Escandón y Barrón. There, between 1903 and 1905, he helped local villagers organize in their disputes against Escandón, which led to him being drafted into the Mexican army for troublemaking. He was sent to the Riflemen's School in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

.John Womack, "Zapata y la Revolución Mexicana", Siglo XXI, 1978, pg. 73

/ref>

Mexican revolution

In 1910 Salazar organized his own group of guerillas and participated in the fight against the regime of

. Allied with Zapata, in 1911, he was one of the signatories of the Plan of Ayala. When Zapata broke with

Francisco Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

in 1912, Amador returned to the Morelos hills and joined Zapata, where thanks to his previous military experience his units were among the best disciplined of the ''Zapatistas''.Samuel Brunk, "Emiliano Zapata: Revolution & Betrayal in Mexico", UNM Press, 1995, pg. 71

/ref> Amador fought against Madero and then, after

Victoriano Huerta José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 22 December 1854 – 13 January 1916) was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero wit ...

's coup d'etat, still under Zapata's command, he fought Huerta.

On the Zapatista Junta

In May 1913, he was made part of the Revolutionary

Junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

of the ''Zapatistas'', which was presided over by Emiliano Zapata, and also included

Eufemio Zapata Eufemio Zapata Salazar (1873, Ciudad Ayala - June 18, 1917, Cuautla, Morelos) was a participant in the Mexican Revolution and the brother of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. He was known as a womanizer, a macho man, and a very heavy drinker. ...

Genovevo de la O Genovevo de la O (January 3, 1876 – June 12, 1952) was an important figure in the Mexican Revolution in Morelos. He was born in Santa María Ahuacatitlán, Morelos,Genovevo de la O accessed Dec 28, 2018 to sharecropper parents. He ...

Felipe Neri Felipe Neri (sometimes known as Felipe Neri Jiménez; 23 August 1884 – January 1914) was a soldier and general in the Mexican Revolution. Early life He was born in the neighborhood of Gualupita, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, on 23 August 1884, to ...

Otilio Montaño Sánchez Otilio Montaño Sánchez ( Villa de Ayala, Morelos, December 13, 1877– Buenavista de Cuéllar, Guerrero, May 18, 1917) was a Zapatista general during the Mexican Revolution. Otilio Montaño was born in Morelos to Esteban Montaño and Guada ...

, and

Manuel Palafox Manuel Palafox (born Puebla, 1886–1959) was a Mexican politician, soldier and intellectual. Palafox studied in Puebla, his city of birth, and became an entrepreneur. In 1911, he joined the Liberation Army of the South (AWL) of Emiliano Zap ...

(who acted as the secretary).Frank McLynn, "Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution", Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002, pg. 185

/ref> He was in charge of reorganizing the Zapatista military structure and took part in drawing up the revolutionary goals of the movement, which included updating the Plan of Ayala to new conditions. He was also made a

Divisional General Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French (Revolutionary) System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

in the Liberation Army of the South. Pancho Villa y Emiliano Zapata2

During the first part of 1914, Salazar operated in the area near Yautepec, as part of a general successful offensive by Zapata against Huerta.Samuel Brunk, "Emiliano Zapata: Revolution & Betrayal in Mexico", UNM Press, 1995, pg. 102

/ref> However, once Huerta was defeated in July, Zapata broke with the "constitutionalist" government led by

Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a February ...

and along with Pancho Villa began fighting against the Constitutional Army. On December 4, 1914, Amador Salazar accompanied Zapata to his famous first meeting with Villa in Xochimilco. Soon however, the Zapatistas and the Villistas had to abandon Mexico City to Carranza's general Álvaro Obregón, who reentered the city at the end of January, 1915. Salazar, leading 4000 men made an attempt to retake the capital at the end of July, but was defeated by Constitutionalist forces.David Marley, "Historic Cities of the Americas: an Illustrated Encyclopedia, Volume 1", ABC-CLIO, 2005, pg. 266

/ref>

Death and burial

He was killed by a stray bullet on April 16, 1916 and was buried in a pyramid shaped

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

Tlaltizapán Tlaltizapán de Zapata is a city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It stands at . The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The toponym ''Tlaltizapán'' comes from a Nahuatl name and means ' ...

, dressed as a charro.Enrique Krauze, "Mexico: Biography of Power : a History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996", HarperCollins, 1998, pg. 301

/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salazar, Amador 1868 births 1916 deaths Mexican generals Mexican people of Basque descent Zapatistas People from Cuernavaca Deaths by firearm in Mexico