The Death of Artemio Cruz

In 1915, 22-year-old Cruz is fighting in the mountains as a Carrancista, the US-backed General Carranza’s forces, against the Villistas, the deteriorating but undaunted forces of Pancho Villa. Cruz’s battalion has run out of food, and he is taken prisoner by a merciless lieutenant named Zagal. Zagal puts Cruz and his Indigenous assistant (Yaqui) on a horse to be taken to Perales prison in Chihuahua. Zagal throws the Yaqui into prison but gives Cruz an opportunity to spare himself by giving Zagal information. During their interview, Zagal acknowledges that Villa’s forces are likely to be defeated any day, but he nevertheless refuses to surrender. Cruz refuses Zagal’s offer to switch sides, and Cruz ends up in prison alongside the Yaqui and another former soldier wearing civilian clothing, Gonzalo Bernal. The three expect to be executed within a few days. While in prison, the Yaqui explains how his family was deprived of their land by the government and forced into exile in the state of Yucatán. Gonzalo explains that he was sent by Carranza, who fully expected him to be taken prisoner or killed, since Carranza thought that Gonzalo was a traitor. A despondent and disillusioned Gonzalo explains that he did, in fact, support Carranza and Obregon, but he just as well might have supported Villa, as each of the caudillos fights for his own self-interest rather than their professed ideals.