Ramón Arnaud
Officer:Mexican Army/last Mexican governor:Clipperton Island (1879–1915)
Ramón Nonato Arnaud Vignon (1879 – 29 May 1915) was an officer in the Mexican Army and the only Mexican governor of Clipperton Island.
Early life
Ramón Arnaud was born in Orizaba, Veracruz, in 1879, to Ángel Arnaud and Carlota Vignon, Mexicans of French origin who had settled in Veracruz in the aftermath of the 1862–1867 French Intervention. He completed his primary education in Orizaba and, influenced by a friend of his, the son of General Bernardo Reyes, decided to enlist in the Army. He was unable to secure entry to the Military Academy in Mexico City but, assisted by the influence of General Reyes, enrolled as a sergeant in the 7th Cavalry Regiment. Shortly after enlisting, however, he deserted; he was promptly tracked down, arrested, sent to the military prison in Tlatelolco for 5½ months, and demoted to a private in the 23rd Infantry Battalion. In the space of three years, however, he had regained his earlier rank after fighting against Maya insurgents in the Caste War of Yucatán. Shortly after that, he was posted to Japan in the company of Colonel Abelardo Ávalos.
Governor of Clipperton
Upon his return from East Asia, the government of President Porfirio Díaz placed him in charge of the military garrison on Clipperton Island, an atoll in the Pacific subject to a sovereignty dispute between Mexico and France. At first he was reluctant, believing that this amounted to an exile from Mexico, but Ávalos convinced him by telling him that Díaz had personally chosen him to protect Mexico's interests in the international conflict with France, and that the fact that he spoke English, French, and Spanish would assist him in protecting Mexico's sovereignty over the territory. He consequently accepted and arrived on Clipperton as governor in 1906.
The public source identifies “Ramón Arnaud” as officer:Mexican Army/last Mexican governor:Clipperton Island (1879–1915). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ramón, Arnaud and Officer.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7290436. VIAF identifies the subject as 53469848. The Library of Congress control number is n98085147. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1879, 1915, 1862 and 1867.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ramón Arnaud” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.