HISTORY
The following article was published in the newspaper Zacatecas en Imagen, by Gustavo Dévora, chronicler of Fresnillo, Zacatecas, on June 7, 2014.
As part of the commemoration of the Centennial of the Battle of Zacatecas, we invited José Alberto Galindo Galindo , chronicler of Zaragoza, Coahuila, to show us an interesting documentary about the life of La Adelita , which we share with our readers.
The revolutionary heroine saw the first light in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, on September 8, 1900 , in the bosom of a wealthy family.
Her name was Adela Velarde Pérez , and she stood out from a young age for her beauty, not only physically, but also for her contagious joy, her generosity, her constant restlessness and curiosity.
He inherited the strong character of his grandfather, General Rafael Velarde , a distinguished patriot, staunch supporter and close friend of Benito Juárez, whom he protected in his home during his itinerant Presidency.
The Decision
At 13, against her parents' wishes, Adela gave up her comfortable home life and ran away to enlist and serve in the Revolution, for which they never forgave her.
Leonor Villegas de Magnón, originally from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, organized a group of volunteer nurses in early 1913 that would become the so-called Neutral White Cross , to care for the wounded of the Constitutionalist Army .
On February 7, 1913, at a Chihuahua field hospital, he met a very beautiful young woman who expressed her desire to work in his ranks; he immediately recruited her into Colonel Breceda's troops.
She quickly adapted to her duties, her slender build, her graceful, noble, and determined figure captivating the combatants. There she met the man who would become the love of her life, a sergeant named Antonio Gil del Río Armenta , a member of Francisco Villa 's forces. He visited her every night and serenaded her on the Medical Service train, singing a piece he had composed in her honor, the lyrics of which declared his adoration for Adelita .
In order to remain with his beloved at all times, he requested leave from the army to work as a stretcher-bearer for the Neutral White Cross, which was granted.
Some time later, Adelita introduced Antonio to her boss, Leonor Villegas, announcing that she would soon be married. The lovers never imagined that the wedding would never happen due to a twist of fate.
Antonio accompanied Adelita during the Centaur of the North's lightning-fast and repeated victories in 1913 and 1914, until he was seriously wounded by federal shrapnel in the Battle of Torreón at Gómez Palacio and died in the arms of his beloved. Seconds before dying, he reiterated his veneration for her.
In that brief period, Sergeant Antonio del Río Armenta wrote the most heartfelt song for him, the only one he composed, which became the most famous in Mexico and transcended borders.
Faithful to her duty, despite the intense pain caused by the death of her beloved, Adelita continued carrying out her apostolate until the Battle of Zacatecas, after which she formally ceased to belong to the army and made her way with difficulty to Mexico City.
She worked for many years as a typist at Post Office No. 1 in the country's capital, modestly, surrounded by memories, alone, and without formal support from the army, which she served with devotion and sacrifice.
He fathered a son, Antonio, who also died young, as a pilot in World War II.
Almost nothing is known about Sergeant Antonio del Río Armenta 's short life. It is known that he was born in the rural community of Plateros, Fresnillo, around 1892.
He was tall, thin, with clear, sad blue eyes; sensitive, with a cheerful character and at the same time shy.
He came into the world at a time when birth registration books were lost, a period considered the darkest in Mexican genealogy.
Unparalleled symbol
At her tender age, Adelita became a symbol of women like no other in the world, not as a guerrilla fighter, with cartridge belts and weapons, but in the white garb of a nurse.
Her white and feminine silhouette emerges on the battlefields of the Northern Division, one morning in 1913 and nights later La Adelita appears, in the musical framework that turns it into the hymn that the revolutionaries adopted to bear their duties and remember their desires, which remains current to this day and is known, appreciated and an example in many other countries of the world.
On February 22, 1941, the Secretariat of National Defense awarded Adelita the Decoration of Revolutionary Merit for services rendered from February 20, 1913, to August 15, 1914.
At the express request of December 8, 1961, the Honorable Congress of the Union granted Mrs. Adela Velarde Pérez a lifetime pension as a veteran of the Revolution of 750 pesos per month, as long as the interested party maintains her current marital status.
Colonel Alfredo Villegas , to whom the verses of the ballad refer, “besides being brave, she was beautiful and even the colonel himself respected her,” was 10 years older than Adelita , whom he admired.
He retired from the army, got married, and lived in Del Rio, Texas.
In 1962, his wife died, and since he hadn't forgotten Adelita , some time later he asked his friend Melchor Cárdenas, a judicial police officer from the Federal District, to locate her, since he knew she lived in Mexico City. The mission was easy to accomplish.
Months later, he moved into her home, telling her he'd always had her in mind and wanted to marry her. Adelita accepted, and they were married in 1965.
Adelita lived happily in her first and only marriage for six years, until her death in Del Rio, Texas, on September 4, 1971, four days before her 71st birthday.
The origin of the charming melody and its lyrics continue to generate controversy. Some authors suggest it comes from Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, or Yucatán.
Ometepec, Guerrero, has been attributed to its authorship since 1892. The musician Juan Reyes heard it in Culiacán, wrote it down, and arranged it to be played by the military band he directed.
In Tampico, the young Captain Elías Cortázar Ramírez made it known by playing it on his harmonica, with the sad note that many later imitated. Adelita lived forever with her song until her weary heart stopped beating, remembering her sergeant.
In summary, this is the true story of Adelita, duly supported by a diligent researcher like José Alberto Galindo Galindo from Coahuil, who has published a book entitled A Sky of Shrapnel , which includes photographs, newspaper clippings, documents, bibliography and personal testimonies that support the reality of the facts.
There is still much to investigate, especially about Antonio Gil del Río Armenta , a task that we will join with the author, the results of which will be recorded in the second edition of the aforementioned book.