More than a century has passed since the death of the rebellious Mexican general Catarino Erasmo Garza Rodríguez, who took up arms against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, but only this Wednesday did Mexico decide to come to the aid of the missing soldier. The Senate of the Republic has voted in favor of a request from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to send a military mission to Panama to search for and repatriate Garza's remains, uncovering the rocky story of a soldier who could not make it after the revolution In Mexico he went into exile and even flirted with the revolutionary movement of the Cuban poet José Martí.
This story begins in 1891, when journalist Garza gathered a group of men to plot the overthrow of Díaz, who controlled Mexico from 1876 to 1911. Garza was already familiar with the Porfiriato prisons due to his critical work against the regime, since he wrote inflammatory articles denouncing the brutality and excesses of the dictatorship. The intrepid reporter-turned-revolutionary managed to organize an army of men aware of the regime's abuses and even had the financial backing of some wealthy landowners. Garza and his men attempted to enter Mexico from Texas, but the venture was unsuccessful, the Texas authorities began a hunt against the rebels, and the frustrated revolutionary was forced into exile.
Then began the general's American journey, which took him through the Caribbean and Central America until he reached Colombia, where there was a civil war of its own. Garza joined this revolutionary movement and, according to some sources, it was in Central America that he also met the poet José Martí, another romantic who dreamed of overthrowing the Spanish in his beloved Cuba, and who invited him to join his insurgent movement. The Mexican general was killed in a battle in Bocas del Toro, then part of the so-called Greater Colombia, and his remains have been buried there ever since. President López Obrador has made gestures during his time in office to recognize the general's life and try to repatriate him to Mexican territory.
Mexican authorities have begun negotiations with the government of Panama to allow Mexican soldiers to travel to Bocas del Toro to begin searching for the soldier. The Mexican newspaper El Universal reported on Wednesday that the Mexican Senate had approved the departure of 80 soldiers to the Central American country at the request of López Obrador. According to the newspaper, the president's request was approved with 49 votes in favor and 15 against by opposition deputies, who criticized this initiative and alluded to the number of missing people in Mexico, which, according to humanitarian organizations, is more than 50,000. These soldiers will take part in the excavation work together with personnel from the National Search Commission of the Ministry of Interior. The uniformed men will set sail from Veracruz in the southeast of the country on February 19th and return to Mexico on April 16th. Since January, President López Obrador has expressed interest in repatriating the courageous Garza, who he says is “an extraordinary revolutionary” who deserves to lie on the ground, for whose freedom he fought.
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