Nieves Hernandez

 

 

 

 



Recordando viejos tiempos
Porque el destino me manda,
Con permiso de sus nietos,
Canto un hombre de los grandes, con respeto al coronel
Llamado Nieves Hernández.

Era hombre de gran valor
De los pocos que hay ahorita,
Apreciado por los hombres
Y las muchachas bonitas,
Su cuna lo fue Juamave, estado de Tamaulipas.

Un coronel afamado,
Todo el mundo lo sabía,
Nació en el siglo pasado,
Ya todos lo conocían,
Era hombre de las confianzas
Del senor Porfirio Díaz.

Yo te doy explicación
Por si tú no me comprendes,
Era jefe de la plaza
De ese pueblito de Méndez,
Recibió orden de aprehender
A don Mariano Reséndez.

Era un hombre respectable,
No le tenía miedo a nada,
Le tiraron a traición,
Le dieron la retirada, solo así podían matarlo
Poniéndole una emboscada.

Aquí termina el corridor, pues ya me voy retirando,
Ya murió Nieves Hernández, que siempre anduvo cuidando
Que al país no entrara nada
Que fuera de contrabando.

In remembrance of old times,
Let destiny command me,
With the permission of his grandchildren,
I sing of a great man, with respect to the Colonel
Named Nieves Hernández.

He was a man of great courage,
There are few enough like him nowadays,
Respected by his male peers,
And appreciated by the pretty girls,
He was born in Juamave, in the state of Tamaulipas.

He was a famous officer,
Everybody knew about him,
He was born in the last century (19th),
In those days everyone knew him,
He was a man who had the confidence
Of the great Porfirio Díaz.

I will explain it all to you,
In case you don’t understand,
He (Hernández) was the top commander
In this little town of Méndez (Tamaulipas),
When he received the order to arrest
Don Mariano Reséndez.

Hernandez was a man worthy of respect,
He wasn’t afraid of anything,
The ambushers shot him without warning,
They shot him in the back, only by springing an ambush,
Only in this way could they kill him.

Here ends the corridor, because I am now taking my leave,
Now Nieves Hernández has died, he who always vigilant
That nothing might come into the country
That might have been contraband.

 

 

The ancestors of Nieves Hernandez created this corrido to contradict his negative portrayal, as found in “Mariano Resendez.”  In doing so, it contains many descriptions of Hernandez’s heroism and bravery.  In stanza three, for instance, the corridista boasts about Hernandez, saying “he was a man who had the confidence of the great Porfirio Diaz.”  According to Professor James Nicolopolus, this corrido provides further compelling evidence for the importance of the legendary Mariano Resendez, even though it might not accurately depict the true nature of Nievas Hernandez.

Mariano Resendez

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