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How Mexico’s “Undefeated Caudillo” Met His End

By Jürgen Buchenau

Álvaro Obregón was victorious in the Mexican Revolution, but his lust for power left deep scars on the country’s politics.

This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on Uruguay General Álvaro Obregón had a morbid sense of humor. His epic but victorious battle against General Pancho Villa’s formidable army in 1914-15 cost him his right arm, and the loss left him overweight and depressed. To compensate, he told jokes. In 1919, he told a Spanish guest how one of his aides found the arm on the battlefield. As the story went, he instructed his aide to hold a gold coin in the air. “Immediately from the ground rose a species of bird with five wings. It was my hand—which, sensing a gold coin...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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