Eliseo Arredondo

Eliseo Arredondo de la Garza came from Nava, Coahuila, and trained as a lawyer before entering judicial and political service. He served as a judge in Piedras Negras, briefly governed Coahuila on an interim basis in April 1912, and sat in the federal Chamber of Deputies. A cousin and supporter of Venustiano Carranza, he became interior secretary in the Constitutionalist administration in 1914 before taking on its representation in Washington. ¹

His American assignment spanned the transition from revolutionary agency to recognized embassy. On 19 October 1915 he reported to Carranza that the United States and eight Latin American governments had recognized the Constitutionalist government. The recognition gave his mission a different diplomatic standing, but did not remove the conflict over American military operations inside Mexico. ²

On 4 July 1916, after the fighting at Carrizal, Arredondo delivered Foreign Minister Cándido Aguilar's proposal for settling the crisis. The note presented border security and the withdrawal of American troops as the two central problems, and offered either direct negotiation or the good offices of other American republics. It also invoked Mexico's release of American prisoners as evidence of its willingness to resolve the dispute. ³

After Washington he represented Mexico in Spain. Carranza's overthrow and death in 1920 ended that phase of his career; Arredondo died in 1923. ¹