Leon Trotsky was one of the leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Along with Vladimir Lenin, he was instrumental in the founding and early governance of the Soviet Union. After Lenin’s death, he had a falling out with his successor Joseph Stalin. This would lead to his being expelled from the Politburo and in 1929 was deported. He spent a few years in exile at different European countries before moving to Mexico in 1937 where he was welcomed by Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas.

Upon his arrival in Mexico, Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedona moved into La Casa Azul with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Apparently Trotsky got on better with Frida than he did with Diego, as the two are purported to have had an affair.

In 1939, Trotsky and Sedona moved to different house in the same Coyoacan section of Mexico City. That house is now the Trotsky Museum.

While in exile at his new home, Trotsky planted a cactus garden and built a chicken coup.

He also continued to write critically of Stalin and the Stalinist brand of Marxism. After a couple failed assassination attempts, he was murdered by an agent of Stalin’s secret police in 1941. He was buried on the grounds of the house in Coyoacan.