DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Venustiano Carranza's time in San Antonio. Now settle in, because this story moves between two countries, two centuries, and a whole lot of rooms where history got made in whispers. Venustiano Carranza was born in 1859, and by the time the twentieth century rolled around, he was already deep in the machinery of Mexican politics.
In 1898, during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, Carranza represented the State of Coahuila as a federal senator. That sounds like a comfortable life. And for a while, maybe it was.
But comfort has a way of curdling when the man at the top rules by oppression, and Carranza grew disillusioned with Díaz' grip on power. By 1910, he had made his choice. He endorsed Francisco I.
Madero, whose Plan de San Luis Potosí called for insurrection — straight up, no sugarcoating — to change the government in power. That same year, Madero himself fled to San Antonio, Texas. And just like that, this city on the San Antonio River became something it hadn't exactly advertised itself as: a haven.
A refuge. A place where political exiles and displaced persons landed after the Mexican Revolution broke open. Now here's where it gets interesting.
Expatriates and insurgents were pouring out of Mexico to escape persecution for opposing the Díaz regime. And they didn't exactly set up shop somewhere obvious. Many of them moved between the private homes of friends and relatives in San Antonio, keeping themselves one step ahead of law enforcement agents and spies.
In a city that size, with that many loyalties in play, you had to know whose door to knock on. Carranza knew. He intermittently visited San Antonio during the upheaval in Mexico, and when he came, he stayed with his niece — Celia Carranza Cepeda de Treviño.
She and her husband, Angel Treviño Sambrano, had built a house here in 1914, on land purchased from Commodore Cornelius Collins. That house was no ordinary residence. Under that roof, Carranza met clandestinely with partisans to discuss the course of the revolution and their plans for the future.
You want to talk about a room where things were decided — that was one of them. Among the individuals who assembled there with Carranza was Leonides González, general manager of La Prensa, an influential Spanish-language publication right there in San Antonio. The revolution was being fought in the field, yes — but it was also being argued, debated, and shaped around tables in houses like this one.
The house also facilitated cultural and social events for Mexicans exiled in the city. It was a lifeline, not just a meeting place. Back in Mexico, the wheel kept turning.
During Madero's presidency — which ran from 1911 to 1913 — Carranza served as governor of Coahuila. Then, in 1917, he became president of Mexico and introduced constitutional reform. The man who had once been a senator disenchanted with a dictator had climbed all the way to the top.
But power in revolutionary Mexico was a dangerous thing to hold. Venustiano Carranza was assassinated in Tlaxcalatongo, Puebla, on May 21, 1920. Born 1859.
Ended 1920. And somewhere in between, he passed through San Antonio — quietly, carefully, in the company of his niece and her husband, planning the future of a nation from a house on land once sold by a man named Commodore Cornelius Collins. History doesn't always happen where you expect it.
What the marker says
Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920) was one of the early leaders of the Mexican Revolution and ultimately became president of his country. In 1898, during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, Carranza represented the State of Coahuila as a federal senator. He became disillusioned with Díaz’ oppressive rule, and in 1910 endorsed Francisco I. Madero, whose Plan de San Luis Potosí advocated insurrection to change the government in power. In 1910, Madero fled to San Antonio, Texas, which became a haven for political exiles and displaced persons following the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. Expatriates and insurgents left Mexico to escape persecution for their opposition to the Díaz regime. Many exiles moved between the private homes of friends and relatives in San Antonio to elude law enforcement agents and spies. During the upheaval in Mexico, Venustiano Carranza intermittently visited San Antonio and stayed here with his niece, Celia Carranza Cepeda de Treviño; she and her husband, Angel Treviño Sambrano, built a house in 1914 on land purchased from Commodore Cornelius Collins. During these sojourns, Carranza clandestinely met with partisans to discuss the course of the revolution and their plans for the future. Among the individuals who assembled here with Carranza was Leonides González, general manager of La Prensa, an influential Spanish-language published in San Antonio. The house also facilitated cultural and social events for Mexicans exiled in the city. During Madero’s presidency (1911-1913), Carranza served as governor of Coahuila. In 1917, he became president of Mexico and introduced constitutional reform. Venustiano Carranza was assassinated in Tlaxcalatongo, Puebla, on May 21, 1920. (2008)