Hello, Pancho

Last week when I was downtown, I walked down Madero Street, the pedestrian street which cuts through the heart of the Historic Center of the city.  At one of the street corners, I saw a statue I had not seen before.  It was a statue of Francisco (Pancho) Villa, one of the most colorful and controversial characters of the Mexican Revolution.

Was the statue brand new?  I had just walked down Madero Street the week after Christmas, and I had not noticed it.  I found an article on the internet and learned that the statue had been unveiled on December 31st.  Last year was the 100th anniversary of Villa's death, and the city government had declared 2023 to be the "Year of Francisco Villa".  This statue was the culmination of the year honoring him.

But why was he portrayed climbing a ladder at the street corner?  In 1914, when Villa's army marched into Mexico City, Pancho rechristened the street (previously the Street of the Silversmiths) in honor of President Francisco Madero who had been murdered in a counter-revolutionary coup the year before.  The story goes that Villa placed a plaque with Madero's name on that very street corner and threatened that anyone who removed it would be shot.