Is it true that, for the US, Pancho Villa was the equivalent of modern day Bin Laden?

by phi_array

In Mexico he is a hero, but apparently he is the opposite in the US

Bodark43

That would be a real stretch of the imagination. Bin Laden felt that the US was a threat to all Islam, and the US reaction to the 9/11 attacks was to radical Islam as an existential threat also. The actions and reactions were very extreme, and long-lasting in their effects. On the other hand, Villa's effect on the US was very limited and very brief.

Like Zapata, Villa wanted land reform. This was very much a concern to the US, as there had been enormous US investment in Mexico in the later 19th c., and US land holdings were huge. Much of the reaction of the US government to the Revolution was motivated by a wish to protect those properties. Villa knew this, and in the early years of the Revolution he took considerable care not to touch US-owned property. However, that eventually did not matter to the US. There were three potential leaders after the defeat and exile of Huerta: Carranza, Villa, and Zapata, and soon there was a conflict between Carranza and the other two. While professing to be neutral, the US government supplied arms and aid to Carranza, seeing him as a better guarantor of US interests in Mexico. After Villa's Army of the North was defeated at the Battle of Celayo in April, 1915, Villa lost his secure standing as a political leader, and he and what was left of his shattered army were put on the run.

At that point he turned into a ruthless bandit, and it was during this time that his army committed their notorious atrocities. His famous raid on Columbus New Mexico on March 6 1916 was motivated by simple revenge: he had paid for arms and supplies, but the US had refused to allow them to be delivered to him. His raid was pointless- he captured vey little, and took losses much greater than he inflicted on the US, having at least 67 killed or wounded . The punitive expedition under Pershing was an over-reaction, which nonetheless had significant support by the US public. But it was also ineffective at finding and eliminating Villa, and having US troops on Mexican soil immediately caused violent reaction from Mexicans, resulting in the Battle of Parral in April.

So, although there would be US troops guarding ( or making a show of guarding) the US border until Feb. 1917, the whole Pancho Villa raid and reprisal lasted no more than about two months, with little damage to the US. The US was then caught up in WWI. And, of course, Villa himself was assassinated in 1923; and that was after three years of being a harmless haciendado.

Katz, F. (1998). The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (1st ed.). Stanford University Press.