General Enrique Gorostieta was the leader of the Cristero movement, a civil war during post-revolutionary Mexico, in the 1920s. He graduated from the Heroico Colegio Militar with an impeccable arms career that reached its peak way beyond the end of the Porfiriato era. Considered an extraordinary infantry strategist, his shrewdness earned him a prompt promotion to the rank of Brigadier General at the age of twenty-four.
Among other feats, he led the defense of the Port of Veracruz against the landing of US naval forces. However, with the arrival of the Mexican Revolution and the dissolution of the Porfirian army, Gorostieta’s military career was cut short as he was dismissed from duty and sent into exile in El Paso, Texas.
Upon his return to Mexico, Gorostieta faced the unsparing anticlerical onslaught by the nascent government that had arisen from the revolution. Thus his military calling was renewed, charged with leading the civil movement in defense of faith.
Against all odds and without adequate or sufficient weapons or ammunition, he turned a handful of rebels into a formidable military force of more than 25,000 men, capable of putting the regime of President Plutarco Elías Calles in check. The multiple obstacles and scarcity of resources were overcome by leadership, courage, and discipline. Initially an atheist, he became a devout Christian through fighting, convinced of the courage and faith of his warriors.
It is a story of resilience, defense of freedom, truth, and belief. Built on the faith of people who refused to be deprived of their liberty, who took up arms against oppression to assert their faith. They always fought firm to their beliefs with the certainty that their cause was just, and they won.