Carranza, Venustiano (1859-1920)

Mexican revolutionary leader, president 1914-20. His presidency was marked by civil unrest and his reluctance to implement reforms set out in the 1917 constitution.

Carranza supported Francisco Madero in the successful 1910-11 revolution against Porfírio Díaz. In 1913, when Madero was overthrown as president by Victoriano Huerta, Carranza, in combination with General Álvaro Obregón, Francisco Villa, and Emiliano Zapata, fought against Huerta and headed the Constitutionalist Army. In August 1914, after Huerta was ousted, Carranza took over as president. However, Villa and Zapata refused to recognize his leadership and the civil war continued.

Essentially cautious, Carranza had to be persuaded by his ally Obregón to promise to introduce social and agrarian reforms, as set out in the constitution of 1917. However, Carranza worked to frustrate full implementation of the reforms and in 1920, when he sought to prevent Obregón succeeding him as president, Obregón led a popular rebellion. Carranza was forced to flee from Mexico City to the mountains of Puebla state, where he was ambushed and murdered in the village of Tlaxcalantongo.