Enrique Gorostieta

Enrique Gorostieta Velarde (Monterrey, 1889 - Atotonilco el Alto, 2 June 1929) was a Mexican soldier. He was one of the leaders of the Cristero Rebellion.

Gorostieta followed a military education at the Heroic Military College of Chapultepec and served in the Porfirian army. During the Mexican Revolution he served in the Federal Army of counterrevolutionary dictator Victoriano Huerta, being Huerta's youngest general, and after Huerta's fall fought with Juan Andrew Almazán.

In 1926 he joined the Cristeros, an army of Roman Catholic rebels fighting against the government forces of president Plutarco Elías Calles. Nonetheless Gorostieta was known to be no devout Catholic. When his soldiers were praying in church, he preferred to wait outside smoking a cigar. He was rumoured to be a mason and even made fun of his soldiers religious beliefs. Nonetheless the Cristeros tolerated him, since he was one of their most capable commanders, nicknamed 'the invincible'.

Gorostieta was killed in June 1929 in Atotonilco in the state of Jalisco in a battle against government forces.