- Palacio de Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of
Mexico City ,Mexico , which now houses the General National Archive ("Archivo General de la Nación").Known in popular culture as "The Black Palace of Lecumberri", it served as a
penitentiary from 1900 to 1976. It was inaugurated by PresidentPorfirio Díaz , under the inspiration and design of Miguel S. Macedo, who was later on imprisoned there for several months, during the turmoil brought about by theMexican Revolution . Construction began in 1888. Among the famous people who were imprisoned there werePancho Villa ,David Alfaro Siqueiros ,Heberto Castillo , Trotsky's murdererRamón Mercader ,Gregorio Cárdenas Hernández andJosé Revueltas .During "
La decena trágica " in 1913,, PresidentFrancisco I. Madero and his Vice PresidentJosé María Pino Suárez were murdered while en route to Lecumberri.Throughout its 76-year use as a prison, only two people ever escaped alive. The first,
Pancho Villa , was a general of theMexican Revolution . The second wasDwight Worker , an American convicted of smugglingcocaine . With the aid of his then-wife, Worker escaped onDecember 17 ,1975 , disguised as a woman. They later authored a book about their experiences entitled "Escape" (ISBN 0-913374-76-8).The building was decommissioned as a prison in 1976, and later turned over to the National Archive in 1980. The national archive is one of the oldest historical archives in the Americas.
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