Noriega Laso, Iñigo, 1853-1923

Born in Spain in 1853, In̋igo Noriega Laso immigrated to Mexico in 1867. Over the next thirty years he developed business and industrial networks in Mexico with an estimated value of forty million pesos in 1910. Among these businesses were Compañía Minera y Beneficiadora de Metales de Tlalchichilpa y Anexas, Compañía Agrícola La Sauteña, Compañía Agrícola de Colombres (later renamed Río Bravo), Negociación Agrícola de Xico y Anexas, and Compañía Agrícola y Colonizadora Mexicana. His interests included vast agricultural enterprises, factories producing turpentine and resin, textiles, tobacco, mining, railroads, and land development projects such as the draining of the Lago de Chalco. Due to his close ties with Porfirio Díaz, Noriega fled Mexico in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution. The Zapatistas took possession of the mine operated by the Compañía Minera Tlalchichilpa where Emiliano Zapata had once worked, as well as Xico, Río Frío, and the Hacienda de Zoquiapam, exploiting the properties and appropriating the revenues and assets for themselves. The Carranzistas also forcibly occupied parts of La Sauteña, Río Bravo, and the textile mill of the Compañía Industrial La Guadalupe. Noriega's family and associates continued to manage his other businesses while Noriega spent considerable energy seeking to recuperate his confiscated properties after the Revolution ended. Noriega died December 4, 1920 in Mexico.

From the description of In̋igo Noriega Laso Papers, 1586-1928 (1890-1920). (University of Texas Libraries). WorldCat record id: 299774322