Venustiano Carranza in San Antonio

Spanish-language San Antonio followed the revolution through La Prensa. Ignacio E. Lozano, who had come from Mapimí, Durango, in 1908, launched it as a weekly on February 13, 1913, and made it a daily on October 10, 1914. As the voice of el México de Afuera, Mexico Abroad, it sold across South Texas and among emigrés as far as Central and South America, with correspondents in Paris, Mexico City and Washington. Its editorial pages criticized the governments of Carranza and Plutarco Calles, and it circulated secretly in Mexico when censored.

What the plaque says

Venustiano Carranza in San Antonio 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)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spanish Governor's Palace — 0.8 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.9 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• The Alamo — 1.2 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.

More markers nearby

• Italian American Community in San Antonio — 0.4 mi
• San Pedro Creek — 0.4 mi
• Central Christian Church — 0.5 mi
• Site of Rincon/Douglass School — 0.7 mi