DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and it's one worth sitting with for a moment. Victoriano Huerta — born in 1854 — rose to command the federal forces during the Mexican Revolution. And then, in 1913, he became President of Mexico himself.
Now, the marker doesn't let you forget the shadow that presidency was cast under: it came after the arrest and before the assassination of Francisco Madero. That's the kind of historical detail that hangs in the air like smoke. Huerta held the office, and then, a year later, he resigned and went into exile.
That might've been the end of the story. It wasn't. In 1915, U.S. agents caught up with him in Newman, New Mexico, where he was meeting a fellow revolutionary by the name of Pascual Orozco.
The charge was violating U.S. neutrality laws. They took Huerta to Fort Bliss and confined him there. He never stood trial.
His health deteriorated before that day came, and the authorities released him — not to freedom exactly, but to his home on West Yandell Street, right here in El Paso. January 1916. Victoriano Huerta died.
He was buried first in Concordia Cemetery, then reinterred in Evergreen Cemetery. And here's the thing the marker wants you to know, the thing that makes El Paso unlike anywhere else on earth — he is the only former foreign president buried in this city. That's not a tall tale.
That's just the truth, and sometimes the truth is the strangest story of all.
What the marker says
Commander of federal forces during the Mexican Revolution, Victoriano Huerta (b. 1854) became President of Mexico in 1913, after the arrest and before the assassination of Francisco Madero. Huerta resigned a year later and went into exile. In 1915, U.S. agents arrested him in Newman, New Mexico, where he was meeting fellow revolutionary Pascual Orozco. For violating U.S. neutrality laws, Huerta was taken to Fort Bliss and confined. Huerta's health deteriorated before he could stand trial, and authorities released him to his El Paso home on West Yandell Street. In January 1916, Huerta died and was buried in Concordia Cemetery before being reinterred in Evergreen Cemetery. He is the only former foreign president buried in El Paso. (2007)