Lauro Aguirre (1855 – January 9, 1925) was an engineer and journalist who was active during events that foreshadowed the Mexican Revolution.

Early life

Lauro Aguirre was originally from Batosegachi, Chihuahua. He trained as a civil engineer and spent his early career as a surveyor in

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

and Sonora. He married in 1891.

Journalism

By 1892 he had moved to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, where he published a newspaper entitled ''El Independiente'' (''The Independent''). This drew the attention of United States federal authorities who endeavored to maintain U.S. neutrality in Mexican affairs by monitoring the activities of Mexican rebels who resided north of the international border. In 1895, Aguirre participated in protests against the government of Porfirio Díaz. On 5 February 1896 Aguirre published a call for rebellion against the government of Mexico. The next month the United States government arrested Aguirre and another journalist, Flores Chapa, because the Mexican consul accused them of conspiring to reenter Mexico and engage in revolutionary actions. Aguirre and Chapa were acquitted in U.S. federal court after the U.S. consul's investigation concluded that they had only engaged in legitimate newspaper publishing. In July 1896 a conflict arose along the US-Mexican border known as the Yaqui Uprising, which was associated with a popular leader named

Teresa Urrea Teresa Urrea, often referred to as Teresita and also known as Santa Teresa or La Santa de Cábora (the "Saint of Cabora") among the Mayo (October 15, 1873 – January 11, 1906), was a Mexican mystic, folk healer, and revolutionary insurgent. Early ...

. Mexican government documents from the period connect Lauro Aguirre to Urrea and other revolutionaries. Aguirre worked with Urrea to organize raids against Mexican customs offices.

Revolutionary activities

In 1902 Aguirre wrote to President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

to request protection as a political refugee, after having heard a rumor that the Díaz government planned to kidnap him. The previous year, the mayor of Ciudad Juárez had complained to United States authorities about subversive activities by Aguirre associated with his newspaper, which had been renamed ''El Progresista''. The U.S. consul charged with investigating Aguirre's complaint found no evidence of a kidnapping plot. Afterward Aguirre launched another newspaper, ''La Reforma Social'', and joined the

Partido Liberal Mexicano The Mexican Liberal Party (PLM; es, Partido Liberal Mexicano) was started in August 1900 when engineer Camilo Arriaga published a manifesto entitled ''Invitacion al Partido Liberal'' (Invitation to the Liberal Party). The invitation was addr ...

(PLM), which was the most extreme of the anti-Díaz organizations. Aguirre became president of the El Paso PLM branch and organized an attempted takeover of Ciudad Juárez. Their plans failed because Díaz government agents infiltrated the PLM. Enrique C. Creel, the governor of Chihuahua, attempted to get Aguirre extradited in 1906 by framing him for murder and having Mexican officials present forged evidence to American officials. Aguirre was arrested and jailed in the United States for forty days before evidence of his innocence prompted his release. Aguirre continued to publish about Mexican politics with another newspaper, ''El Precursor''. He retired in 1913.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguirre, Lauro 20th-century Mexican journalists Male journalists 1855 births 1925 deaths Yaqui Wars Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Texas Mexican revolutionaries 19th-century Mexican journalists