Pancho Villa

Doroteo Arango Arámbula a.k.a. Francisco or "Pancho" Villa, was a Mexican Revolutionary general. As commander of the División del Norte, he was the veritable caudillo of the Northern Mexican state of Chihuahua; which, given its size, mineral wealth, and proximity to the United States of America, gave him great popularity. Villa was also provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914.

In 1916 he raided Columbus, New Mexico. This act provoked the unsuccessful Punitive Expedition commanded by General John J. Pershing, which failed to capture Villa after a year in pursuit. Villa and his supporters, known as Villistas, employed tactics such as propaganda and firing squads against his enemies, and seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains and like many other Revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for his cause.

When one of Madero's military commanders, Pascual Orozco, started a counter rebellion against Madero, Villa gathered his mounted cavalry troops and fought alongside General Victoriano Huerta to support Madero. However, Huerta viewed Villa as an ambitious competitor, and later accused Villa of stealing a horse and insubordination; he then had Villa sentenced to execution in an attempt to dispose of him. Reportedly, Villa was standing in front of a firing squad waiting to be shot when a telegram from President Madero was received commuting his sentence to imprisonment, from which Villa later escaped. During Villa's imprisonment, Gilbardo Magaña Cerda, a Zapatista who was in prison at the time, provided the chance meeting which would help to improve his poor reading and writing skills, which would serve him well in the future during his service as provisional governor of the state of Chihuahua.

** Pancho Villa's acts of seizing land to give to the needy sounds very similar to that of Hollywood's Robin Hood. If you did not know, it's because Hollywood's concept of Robin Hood was taken from this legendary rebel.

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Source: Wikipedia: Pancho Villa