OCTOBER 9, 1965

MEXICAN REVOLUTIONARY GENERAL JUAN ANDREU ALMAZAN DIED

Born on May 12, 1891, in Olinalá, State of Guerrero, Almazan claimed Aztec descent from Moctezuma I.  In 1907, he opposed dictator Porfirio Díaz.  Working for Francisco Madero’s presidential campaign, he went in exile with him in 1910.  In 1911, Almazan got Emiliano Zapata to join with Madero.  When Zapata broke with Madero, he joined Zapata but soon left him for General Victoriano Huerta (1913) who gave him a combat command.  He fought against Pancho Villa.  With Huerta’s defeat (1914), he returned to Zapata.  In 1920, President Alvaro Obregón made Almazán a general and, in 1921, Division General, the army’s highest rank.  As Communications Minister in the 1930s, he awarded government contracts to his own company.  Retiring in 1939, he was one of Mexico’s richest men.  Almazán ran and lost the 1940 presidential election.  Claiming fraud, he went to Cuba & the U.S. to curry support for a revolution.  Finding none, he returned to Mexico in 1947, and entered business in Mexico City.  He died there.

Sources:
  Roderic I. Camp, “Almazán, Juan Andréu (1891–1965),” Encyclopedia.com, 7/10/2020.  Retrieved 7/22/2020, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/almazan-juan-andreu-1891-1965
 Marie Musgrave and Rafael Rodríguez Castañeda, "Las Aventuras y Desventuras de Juan Andrew Almazán, Último Gran General de la Revolución Mexicana," University of California, Los Angeles (1979).  Retrieved 7/22/2020, https://archive.is/20050115032432/http://www.isop.ucla.edu/profmex/volume9/3summer04/Musgrave.htm#selection-199.0-221.44
Photo:  Unknown, 1916.  Public Domain.  Source: Archivo General de la Nación (INAH).