Saturnino Cedillo Martínez (November 29, 1890 in Ciudad del Maíz, San Luis Potosí - January 11, 1939 in Sierra Ventana, San Luis Potosí) was a Mexican politician 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 ...

and the

Cristero War The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...

. He was governor of San Luis Potosí from 1927 to 1931 through the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR) and served as Secretary of Agriculture on two occasions, one under President

Pascual Ortiz Rubio Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a first Mexican President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three Mexican presidents to serve out the six-year term (1928–1934) of assassinated president-elect Álvaro ...

and again under President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

. He maintained ''de facto'' control of his home state until shortly before his death. He "was the last of the great military ''

caciques A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

'' of the

who maintained his own quasi-private personal army," building a fiefdom in the state of

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

. He rose in rebellion against Cárdenas and was killed.

Early life

Saturnino Cedillo was the son of Amado Cedillo and Pantaleona Martínez. He was born in 1890 in Palomas, a ranch belonging to the municipality of Ciudad del Maíz. He was one of seven siblings: Elena, Homobono, Magdaleno, Cleofas, Engracia and Higinia. It would be thanks to his brothers Cleofas and Magdaleno that Saturnino went into the revolution. The first actions of dissent by the Cedillo family were not against the government but rather the wealthy landowners who preyed on their small neighbor's lands and often served as government representatives. A type of practice that was widespread throughout the

Porfiriato , common_languages = , religion = , demonym = , currency = , leader1 = Porfirio Díaz , leader2 = Juan Méndez , leader3 = Porfirio Díaz , leader4 ...

. At first, the Cedillos showed little interest in political issues, much less the anti-reelectionist movement of

Francisco I. 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 ...

that gained strength after the economic crisis of 1907. Through a school teacher from the nearby

Tula, Tamaulipas Tula is a town located in Tula Municipality in the state of Tamaulipas. History The city was founded on 22 July 1617 by the Franciscan friar Juan Baptist of Mollinedo thus usually is considered the oldest city in the state of Tamaulipas. In 201 ...

called Alberto Carrera Torres, a friend of Magdaleno Cedillo the brothers began their involvement in politics. However, even after being introduced to politics, Cedillo didn't show much interest in the Maderista movement, in part due to its lack of positioning regarding the "agrarian question".

Mexican Revolution

The first armed revolt the Cedillo brothers were involved in was against the Maderista government which ruled San Luis Potosí at the time. On November 17, 1912 they participated in a group of coordinated attacks in Río Verde, Tula, and Ciudad del Maíz. At the end, Saturnino and Cleofas read the

Plan of Ayala The Plan of Ayala (Spanish: ''Plan de Ayala'') was a document drafted by revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution. In it, Zapata denounced President Francisco Madero for his perceived betrayal of the revolutionary idea ...

to the peasants. After hearing about the failure of their attack on Río Verde, the brothers retreated to Tula, where they decided to cross the border into the United States in order to flee. Cedillo then got arrested at the American border after trying to return to Mexico with weapons he had bought to arm his men. He was transferred to San Luis Potosí, where he spent a relatively short time in prison before being released. After Madero's assassination, the Cedillos momentarily surrendered to the usurper

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 ...

before they rose in arms against him. What followed was a series of political maneuvers that allowed Saturnino to be on the triumphant side of several political conflicts. At first they joined

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 ...

's constitutionalist movement, only to join

Villistas Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

and Zapatistas at the Aguascalientes Convention in 1914 when the two groups disavowed Carranza's government. After the death of his brothers Cleofas and Magdaleno shortly after the Battle of El Ébano in 1915 and after a skirmish near Ciudad del Maíz in 1917, respectively, Saturnino surrendered, but it was not accepted by the Constitucionalistas. After living in hiding for some years, things took a turn for the better with

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

's presidency. Cedillo adhered to the

Plan of Agua Prieta The Plan of Agua Prieta (Spanish: ''Plan de Agua Prieta)'' was a manifesto, or plan, that articulated the reasons for rebellion against the government of Venustiano Carranza. Three revolutionary generals from Sonora, Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco E ...

and was rewarded with his inclusion in the Federal Army as a Brigade General. Cedillo was also given control of his native state.

Political career

Saturnino Cedillo thrived under the rule of the ''sonorenses''. After

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

took power in 1924, Cedillo's ''cacicazgo'' became stronger, as did his control over the state's political affairs. Cedillo was granted with even more control after his intervention in the

in which he was an important asset in fighting the Catholic rebels in Jalisco and Guanajuato, having killed their leader,

Enrique Gorostieta Enrique Gorostieta Velarde ( Monterrey, 1889 – Atotonilco el Alto, June 2, 1929) was a Mexican soldier best known for his leadership as a general during the Cristero War. Life Born in Monterrey into a prominent Mexican-Basque family, Enrique G ...

in 1929. Cedillo himself was a Catholic and sympathized with the ''cristero'' cause, so that the antireligious "Calles Laws" were not being enforced in San Luis Potosí. His control allowed him to create and maintain military-agricultural colonies in his area of control, where veterans of his army and their widows could live and work the land. After Obregón's assassination at the hands of a religious fanatic, who also hailed from San Luis Potosí, Calles's hold on Mexico's politics became even stronger. In 1930, Cedillo's niece, María Marcos Cedillo Salas, the daughter of his brother Homobono, learned to fly at the Civil Aviation School in San Luis Potosí, which he had been instrumental in setting up. She became Mexico's first female pilot and named her plane "Ángel del Infierno" (Angel of Hell) after the term that her uncle used to describe aircraft. She then became a flying instructor. Maria died in her plane when it crashed during aerial stunts in 1933. Cedillo is said to have fired all the bullets from his pistol at the remains of the plane, which he blamed for the death of his niece.

Friction with Cárdenas

Cedillo had briefly served as the Minister of Agriculture under Sonoran Pascual Ortiz Rubio. He was held in high regard by the ''agraristas'', whom he convinced to support the presidential candidate Lázaro Cárdenas. Cedillo and Cárdenas shared similarities regarding land reform, but their beliefs on the matter differed radically as Cedillo was in favor of land reform based on the concept of private ownership, but Cárdenas was a proponent of ''

ejidos An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for Agriculture in Mexico, agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights rather than ownership rights to land, which in Mexico is held by the Mexican state. P ...

'', collective lands held by peasants under state control. Cárdenas got support from Cedillo in ousting Calles from his hold on presidential power after Cárdenas was elected president. There was a break between Cedillo and Cárdenas after 1937, with Cedillo taking positions perceived as conservative and in opposition to Cárdenas's policies. He was openly against the 1938 nationalization of oil and the electric industries. The differences would prove fatal for the relationship between the politicians. Cárdenas dismissed him as Minister of Agriculture, and agricultural aid to San Luis Potosí dried up. Losing the state’s support undercut Cedillo's ability to provide benefits to his political base of the peasantry. Cárdenas engaged the aid of labor leader

Vicente Lombardo Toledano Vicente Lombardo Toledano (July 16, 1894 – November 16, 1968) was one of the foremost Mexican labor leaders of the 20th century, called "the dean of Mexican Marxism ndthe best-known link between Mexico and the international world of Mar ...

and the state-sponsored campesino organization to squeeze Cedillo. Cárdenas sacked Cedillo's head of the military in the state, weakening Cedillo's military control. Although right-wing groups in Mexico, including the fascist Gold Shirts, made overtures to Cedillo, their connection is exaggerated. English author

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

visited Cedillo at his home in Palomas. In his book about his travels to Mexico, Greene briefly describes meeting Cedillo and talks about the concern from the federal government of an uprising led by the agrarian warlord.

Rebellion and death

In 1938, Cárdenas demanded that Cedillo leave his base of Valle del Maíz; in response, Cedillo took up arms. Most of Cedillo's private army had been disarmed, and important figures had been trying to convince him not to embark on a suicidal uprising against the ''cardenista'' government. Cedillo took up arms against Cárdenas and the rebellion was suppressed by January 1939. Cedillo was killed along with many of his relatives, including his sister and his son. According to one assessment, "He preferred to die rather than see his legend and honor tarnished before the eyes of those who had served under him during decades of fighting and in the construction of his ''campesino'' fiefdom."

Legacy

Largely forgotten by historiography, because he was considered a traitor as he took up arms against the people, thanks in part to Lombardo Toledano's accusations of Cedillo's links to the Nazis, which have since been disproven.Katz, Friedrich. "Introducción", in Carlos Martínez Assad (comp.) ''El camino de la rebelión del General Saturnino Cedillo''. Oceano. México. 2013. Cedillo's legacy are the former colonies that he founded in the surroundings of Ciudad del Maíz, and the annual commemoration in the same town on January 11.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cedillo, Saturnino Governors of San Luis Potosí 1890 births 1939 deaths