While Carlos Ancona is fictional, his father Eligio Ancona and his brother Antonio Ancona are historical figures, and are the great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather, respectively, of author Rosa Hugener. Some of Carlos Ancona's background, including being the personal journalist of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, was actually lived by Antonio Ancona and passed as family lore to his descendants.
Pancho Villa
Antonio Ancona