Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco

Rodríguez Carrasco was born in Chihuahua. His father was a Carrancista during the Mexican Revolution before joining the Northern Division.[1] At a very young age, he met and established a very close friendship with Pancho Villa.[2][1] In more than one occasion, Rodríguez Carrasco hid Villa in his parent's house to evade capture by rurales.[1]

In a statement given by Rodríguez Carrasco in 1912, he met Villa as a young boy. Villa was a friend of the Rodríguez family. Villa was a cattle dealer at a Chihuahua slaughterhouse and often visited the grocery store Rodríguez Carrasco worked at. Villa would often lend Rodríguez Carrasco his horse for recreational rides as well as attended cockfights together.[4]

Rodríguez Carrasco had many brothers who supported his paramilitary endeavors, notably José, Joaquín, and Manuel.[1]

Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco in his youth, year unknown

Despite historians' best search efforts, the names of Rodríguez Carrasco's parents officially remain unknown and his birth certificate has not been found. The name of his father was possibly Trinidad Rodríguez, originally hailing from Huejotitán, Chihuahua. His year of birth is estimated to be 1890 as it is thought when he assumed leadership of the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action in 1934, his age was 44.[1]

Rodríguez Carrasco joined the ranks of Pancho Villa in the División del Norte when the Mexican Revolution broke out. He eventually reached the rank of brigadier general.[1][2]

During the Convention of Aguascalientes, Rodríguez Carrasco had a violent altercation with Villa. To avoid execution, he joined the Carrancistas where he stayed until his desertion in 1918.[2][5]

In 1923, Rodríguez Carrasco took part in the failed coup d'etat led by Enrique Estrada known as the Delahuertista Rebellion.[2] For his part in the plot, he was exiled to El Paso, Texas in 1924. [1] [2][5] Rodríguez Carrasco spent a couple years doing odd jobs, all the while conspiring against the Mexican government.[1]

In 1926, he moved to Los Angeles where Enrique Estrada had once again been plotting a take over of Baja California. Headed by Estrada, a group of former Mexican generals, including Rodríguez Carrasco, would attempt to overthrow governor Abelardo L. Rodríguez and spark a national rebellion against Plutarco Elías Calles.[2][6] The preparation of the plot caught the attention of Bureau of Investigation. On August 15, when Estrada's caravans approached San Diego, federal agents thwarted the plot arresting 150 people including Rodríguez Carrasco.[6] He was found guilty in February of 1927 and spent 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day at McNeil Island Corrections Center.[1][2]

Following his release from prison in March 1928, he once again relocated to Los Angeles and became an editor for El Informador. He held this position for a short time before moving back to Mexico.[1]

Rodríguez Carrasco returned to Chihuahua on the recommendation of fellow general Rodrigo M. Quevedo to the governor of Chihuahua. Quevedo attempted to create a Revolutionary Fair in Ciudad Juárez commemorating the Mexican Revolution. Many revolutionary figures and militants were contacted, including Rodríguez Carrasco, however the fair never came into fruition. He managed to receive about 20,000 pesos through political donations as a result of the fair perpetrations.[1]

Rodríguez Carrasco (second from right) in 1931 or 1932.

In 1929, Rodríguez Carrasco once again took part in a rebellion against the Mexican government headed by José Gonzalo Escobar known as the Escobar Rebellion.[1]

Rodríguez Carrasco joined a far-right organization called the Pro-race Committee shortly after returning to Mexico.[1]

During 1928 and 1929, Rodríguez Carrasco campaigned for José Vasconcelos's presidential bid for the 1929 Mexican presidential election. The election was rigged against Vasconcelos's favor and subsequently unsuccessfully attempted to garner military support to overthrow the government.[1]

Sometime after 1929, Rodríguez Carrasco was a strikebreaker under the protection of Calles.[1]

In 1932, Rodríguez Carrasco founded Camisetas Verdes, a paramilitary group which was characterized as anti-communist, anti-union, ultranationalist in 1932. The mantra of the group, whose supporters chanted, was "Mexico for Mexicans".[2] The organization was established under the protection and support of Plutarco Elías Calles. The group was disbanded by Abelardo Rodríguez shortly after taking power in September of 1932.[1][2]

Nicolás Rodríguez Carrasco shortly after landing in El Paso, August 12, 1936

On February 27, 1936, Cárdenas ordered the dissolution of the group. On August 11, Rodríguez Carrasco was arrested and set to be expelled from the country. He was arrested in Pachuca where was driven to an airport and flown to Cuidad Juarez then to El Paso, Texas. Following his exile, he was considered a non-threat by the Mexican government.[1][2][5]

Rodríguez Carrasco moved to Laredo, Texas with his wife, Leonor Gutiérrez.[1] Shortly thereafter, he met young woman named Emilia Herron who belonged to a very wealthy family El Paso. They developed an affair and Rodríguez Carrasco divorced Gutiérrez. Rodríguez Carrasco contacted immigration services to have Gutiérrez deported back to Mexico.[1] A distraught Gutiérrez brought with her a great volume of documents containing sensitive information about the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action. She made many public declarations regarding the organization's activities against the government and named many public figures who supported the paramilitary group. This caused serious internal conflicts within the organization where some members of the group stopped supporting Rodríguez Carrasco.[1]

Throughout his time in exile, Rodríguez Carrasco continued to draft various manifestos against the Mexican government, Jews, communists, and President Cárdenas in The McAllen Monitor.[2]

Rodríguez Carrasco attempted to raise more funds for a rebellion. He approached wealthy Texan oilmen who had assets in Mexico that were negatively affected by worker strikes and government policies for funds.[2] Other donors he personally received funds from included Reverend P.L. Delgado, William H. Wood, and a wealthy farmer only known as Smithers.[2]

He also received funds to purchase armament from his very close friend and former governor of San Luis Potosí, Saturnino Cedillo. Cedillo, by 1937, had grievances with Cárdenas and alleged ties to German Nazis. Cedillo also had several private meetings with members of the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action.[2]

Rodríguez Carrasco also met with Henry Allen in 1937. Allen was the head of an anti-Semitic fascist group known as the Silver Battalion.[8] Allen offered Rodríguez Carrasco protection and both directly received funds from the Nazi Party.[2]

Rodríguez Carrasco established a Revolutionary Mexicanist Action headquarters in Mission, Texas. There he met oilmen who funded Rodríguez Carrasco's organization of another rebellion. The Mexican Government had received various reports on Rodríguez Carrasco's plot and purchases of weapons. On November 13, 1938, the rebellion was launched in Tamaulipas where troops had been already dispatched at the request of Tamaulipas governor Marte R. Gómez.[2]

Historian Alicia Gojman de Backal opined that the rebellions largely failed in part of Rodríguez Carrasco's inability to attract a large number of followers as his movement fundamentally did not appeal to the masses. As nationalization of the oil industry proved to be beneficial and popular to the majority of the population, very few, especially people of the lower and middle class, opposed it.[2]

Following the rebellion, Rodríguez Carrasco had lost a considerable amount of support from the Gold Shirts.

Rodríguez Carrasco continued to publish in The McAllen Monitor until he developed aplastic anemia in early 1940.[1] Defeated and no longer supported by the Gold Shirts, Rodríguez Carrasco requested a pardon from President Cárdenas to be allowed to return to Mexico, citing his illness.[1][2] He was granted amnesty and moved into his mother's house in Reynosa on the 5th of August. He died 6 days later on August 11 from his illness.[1][2][9]

Rodríguez Carrasco was married to Leonor Gutiérrez who was head of the women's Revolutionary Mexicanist Action faction. The couple divorced in 1937 following an affair Rodríguez Carrasco had while in exile.[1]