Álvaro Obregón
“How do we claim the rights of citizenship for our children,” Álvaro Obregón exclaimed, “if we ourselves are not worthy of them?” And so. he joined the Mexican Revolution, eventually serving as President Venustiano Carranza’s top general and his Minister of War. He was the greatest military strategist of the Revolution, winning every battle and defeating even the likes of the hitherto invincible Pancho Villa (losing an arm in the process. He later pardoned Villa, but ultimately had a hand in his assassination.)
Obregón, himself, ran afoul of Carranza by siding with the liberals who crafted the Constitution of 1917, supporting both radical land reform and severe anti-clericalism. When the out-going President Carranza sabotaged Obregón’s own presidential run, Obregón rose in rebellion, his lackey general, Plutarco Elías Calles, tracking Carranza down and allegedly assassinating him. Immensely popular, Obregón handily won the new presidential election.
President Obregón stated the primary goal of his administration: “At this time, nothing is more important than social peace and political stability.” Indeed.
Nonetheless, he made changes. First, Obregón endeavored to create a common Mexican identity out of all the disparate cultures. He emphasized education, appointing the brilliant José Vasconcelos as his Secretary of Public Education. Together, they built 1,000 rural schools and 2,000 public libraries. Meanwhile, he funded the great Mexican muralists—including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros—who retroactively created meaning out of the bloody, chaotic progression of Mexican history, especially the Revolution.
Honoring the 1917 Constitution, Obregón supported some labor unions and pursued moderate land reform, expropriating and redistributing more than 2 million acres but he chose not to implement the Constitution’s anti-clerical tenets. (Calles, his hand-picked successor, did not hesitate to do so—with dire consequences for them both.)
Obregón still sparked his own controversies. In order to convince the United States to officially recognize his government, he signed the controversial Bucareli Treaty, which obligated Mexico to pay millions in war reparations to foreign banks, and to pledge never to nationalize the vast US oil holdings in Mexico. (Fortunately for Mexico, the congresses of both nations refused to ratify the treaty.) Even more volatile, however, was his decision to come out of retirement and run for president again, thus defying the no-reelection foundation of The Revolution. When two of his staunchest allies protested, he had them assassinated.
In quintessential Mexican fashion, however, he himself succumbed to an assassin’s bullets shortly after his reelection, murdered by a Cristero, a Catholic fanatic.
Mexican revolutionary politics was a homicidal, perhaps even suicidal affair.
This is a selection from Ellison’s recently published book, Mexican Streets: Tales of Tragedy and Triumph, available at Amazon, Handymail and Diane Pearl’s.
- Streets of Mexico – December 2024 - November 30, 2024
- Streets of Mexico – November 2024 - October 29, 2024
- Streets of Mexico – October 2024 - September 28, 2024
