Parti libéral mexicain
Leyva was born in Tetaroba El Fuerte, Sinaloa, on 2 April 1877. He joined the Mexican Liberal Party in 1904. On 29 January 1911, Leyva, Simón Berthold and a group of 30 guerrillas took the town of Mexicali, an event that marked the beginning of the liberation campaign of PLM in Baja California.