The cadet Rafael Vasquez got drunk and—being in this inappropriate state—shot his superior. He thanks the Merciful Lord for he was only sentenced to five years in prison and the wounded man suffered no bad consequences.

Pablo Bermudes devotes himself to Saint Nicholas of Bari and dedicates him this retablo because his military service has come to the end and now he can grow his hair long.

Angelica Valencia was in the service, and she had an idea to pose in uniform for a magazine for men. She thanks Saint Jude Thaddeus for she was only discharged and not thrown in jail.

With this retablo I want to thank the blessed French Interior Ministry that diagnosed me with deafness and exempted me from military service. Deafness that I really didn’t have. Okay, maybe a little bit.

That’s how we celebrated that night till dawn with the adelitas (women soldiers) who had taken Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, with the Zaragoza brigade. Thanks to our protectress, Holy Virgin of Guadalupe, the town was surrounded to my general Francisco Villa. Saturday, November 15, 1913, there was a clear victory. Look after our women who risked their lives for this cause.

Simon Trejo

I give thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe because I survived and bore our Standard of Zapatista Army at the Triumphal Parade to the National Palace in Mexico where my general, don Emiliano Zapata, and general Francisco Villa received a great ovation from the people. I proudly present this retablo that depicts that day, December 6, 1914. May the Virgin protect us who are fighting in the Revolution under her protection.

Zapatista and guadalupano Antonio Basona

July 19, 1935, my son Miguel Garcia was going to be murdered by a soldier. He was saved only because I prayed with all my heart the Virgin of Guadalupe.

December 12, 1940
Gila Hernandez

The cavalryman Jorge Sanchez thanks the Apostle James with this retablo because he won the show jumping competition with his horse. And thanks to that he was decorated by the army.

Marvelous Saint James, we offer you this humble retablo for helping us with the soldiers who didn’t let the train pass because we were going where our general Pancho Villa was and we were carrying riffles and machine guns to him because we were fighting for our land and our freedom.

Hortencio Gamboa Lopez
Guanajuato, 5 july 1915

Tired from constant abuses and humiliation from the owners of the weaving factories in Rio Blanco, who, felt protected by the regime of don Porfirio Diaz, had forced us to slave labour for a scanty pittance, we went on strike for our rights to dignity and justice. Not far away from the factory, we were caught and repressed. They started to chase and catch us. On that tragic day, January 7, 1907, hundreds of our workers companions, with the wives and the children, were murdered on the streets of Orisaba, Veracruz, by the three cavalry battalions commanded by the general Rosalio Martinez. I give thanks to the Lord of Sacromonte because I managed to escape and hide myself in Amecameca, Puebla, from where I thank you now.

1910