Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa was born as José Doroteo Arango Arámbula on June 5, 1878, in a poor rural family. He became an outlaw at an early age after killing a man who assaulted his sister. He joined several bandit gangs and adopted the name Pancho Villa. In 1910, he joined Francisco Madero's uprising against the dictator Porfirio Díaz and proved his skills as a soldier and leader. He became the governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and formed the División del Norte, a powerful army that fought against the regimes of Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza. He allied with Emiliano Zapata and occupied Mexico City in 1914. He clashed with the United States in 1916 when he raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, prompting a military expedition led by Gen. John J. Pershing to pursue him. He retired from politics in 1920 after negotiating an amnesty with interim President Adolfo de la Huerta. He was assassinated on July 20, 1923, in Parral, Chihuahua, by unknown gunmen. He is remembered as a folk hero and a champion of the poor and the oppressed.