Plutarco Elías Calles
Like Porfirio Díaz who’d supposedly opposed presidential reelection, only to serve seven consecutive terms himself, Plutarco Elías Calles decried caudillismo (strongman rule), but eventually became El Jefe Máximo (The Supreme Leader).
After fighting in the Mexican Revolution and serving in the presidential administrations of both Carranza and Obregón, Calles received a nod from the latter to become the anointed successor.
At first, Calles was a progressive president, supporting unions, women’s rights, secular, socialist schools (“We must…take possession of…the mind of youths because they…belong to the Revolution ‘’) and land reform, redistributing more than 13 million acres. In addition, he aggressively pursued economic development by creating a national bank and investing in infrastructure projects including railroads, roads and dams. “I will put all my energy… to raise the moral, intellectual and economic level of the working classes so that they do not continue to be a group of unholy exploited slaves….” He even earned the condemnation of “communist” after attempting to implement the 1917 Constitution’s restrictions on US oil interests.
However, when Calles strictly enforced the anti-clerical tenants of the Constitution– stripping the church of its schools and land, regulating the number and rights of priests – the Cristero War ensued, with Catholic zealots murdering teachers (and even assassinating Obregón) while socialist atheists butchered priests. (Graham Green’s fictional masterpiece, The Power and the Glory, beautifully recounts the woes of a drunken but sincere Mexican clergyman on the run who still tried to fulfill his clerical vows.) After three years of wonton bloodshed, the U.S. ambassador brokered a tenuous peace, but by then the number of priests in Mexico had fallen from 4,500 to just 334 (most having fled the country), and nearly 100,000 people had died. (Mexicans take their religious views – for and against – very seriously!)
Officially, Calles stepped down from power when his term ended, but not before starting a new political party, the National Revolutionary Party (PNR, which morphed into the PRI and dominated Mexican politics for the rest of the century). During its first six years, Calles ruled the PNR, a period known as the Maximato, since he was generally acknowledged as El Jefe Máximo. Indeed, he hand-picked and micromanaged the next three presidents.
Calles’ fourth choice for president, though, proved unmanageable. Lázaro Cárdenas deftly turned the tables, seized control of the party, sent Calles and his allies packing (especially because of Calle’s unabashed corruption and flirtation with fascism), and became one of the most beloved Mexican presidents.
The bigger you are…. Plutarco Elías Calles fell hard. Even so, although he spent most of the rest of his life in exile, at least, unlike most of the other great leaders of the Mexican Revolution, he died a natural death.
This is a selection from Ellison’s recently published book, Mexican Streets: Tales of Tragedy and Triumph.
- Streets of Mexico – December 2024 - November 30, 2024
- Streets of Mexico – November 2024 - October 29, 2024
- Streets of Mexico – October 2024 - September 28, 2024
