Venustiano Carranza – The Pull Of The Land

The Cristiada I–Mike Ashe

November 3, 2022November 3, 2022 Richard Barnes

[Prelude I and Prelude II documented the historical background of events leading up to the appalling years of the Cristiada in Mexico. The Cristiada did not appear spontaneously; its seeds were sown after the French Revolution, its first sprouts were seen in 1810, the trees took root in 1914 with the Carrancistas and their “constitution”, and the conflagration exploded in the 1920s.

The 20th Century saw several Cristiadas, for example, see The Black Book of Communism which documents the atheistic hatred and intolerance of Christianity and its resultant tens of millions of unspeakable tortures, desolations, and deaths. Mexico suffered this a century before Russia and Eastern Europe and China and sundry lands in between, in many of which the faithful died, as in Mexico, proclaiming “Christ the King!”

As you read the preludes and as you read Mike’s documentation below, surely you can see ourselves, as in a mirror, in places clearly, in places blurrily.

Our awakening must be spiritual; a living desire to recognize that man was created in the image of God and his choice remains the same as in the Garden: God or man. The First leads to liberty and life, the latter, to tyranny and death — RMB]

La Cristiada (Viva Cristo Rey!)

This is dedicated to Jesus Perez Mendez, my father in law, from the State of Zacatecas, and my mother in law Maria Luna de Perez from the state of Guanajuato. Both states were in the epicenter of the Cristiada during their early childhoods.

Prologue:

The forces of good and evil collided in Mexico during the 1920’s. Surprisingly this catastrophic event is not part of the country’s memory. Few modern day Mexicans are even aware how this all played out or why [and few Americans are aware as well — RMB]

They also are not aware of the consequences of the “liberal” dictatorships of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).

These liberals exercised power in a cruel and arbitrary way for decades. Aiding this tyranny are the liberal media and their historian cohorts, all of whom have blood on their hands.

Public education in Mexico is run by the government with liberal propaganda taught from K-12 and beyond in the public Universities (that are supposedly autonomous). Even comic books are loaded with left wing heroes [the same is true of Venezuela today — RMB]

Many Mexicans migrated to the US during these decades to escape the oppressive liberalism of Mexico.

The War’s Beginnings

The Cristeros Rebellion was a war of ideologies between the Catholic Church (stable force) and the Mexican Government (unstable liberal force). Wide scale violence (guerrilla warfare) began in 1926 and lasted for three years. The large scale outbreaks were confined to the States of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guanajuato, and southern Zacatecas. Moderate to minor outbreaks were also felt thoughout the Republic. The de facto end of the conflict did not occur until the election of Avila Camacho in 1940 (center right politician) after the disastrous left-wing presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas.

Root Causes of the conflict

Liberalism took root in Mexico during the mid 19^th century among the ruling elites including Benito Juarez. In 1857 the Constitiution formally limited the power of the church and in 1859 reform laws separated the church and state. The revised constitution and reform laws proved to placate the liberals while at the same time being ignored by the government, this was particularly the case during the Porfiriato [the years of peace noted by William F Buckley, Sr. in his House testimony in 1919 — RMB].

The 20^th Century Revolutionaries

Madero — The first ruler after Diaz was Francisco Madero, who had committed to cleanse the corrupt federal and state governments. The Church gave Madero its cautious support, but held it up, when he refused to acknowledge the church’s unifying influence. The church then ended her support for Madero, which was followed shortly thereafter by Huerta’s seizing power and allegedly having Madero killed [see Prelude I for further discussion and detail — RMB]. Afterwards, the church’s further supported Huerta which enraged the liberal revolutionaries.

Zapata — Stance towards the church was ambiguous. He discribed himself as a conservative catholic, but at the same time would shoot a priest without hesitation. The US liberals lionized Zapata, even making a movie portraying him as a champion of the people, while ignoring that he was a killer and mostly ignorant/illiterate. In spite of all his shortcomings he was a champion for agrarian reform which turned out to be his legacy. The commander of the Southern Army, Zapata was a formidable figure in Mexican history.

Villa — Believed in God, but not religion and was a clerophobe. After his break with Carranza, unsurprisingly, he became a defender of the Church. Villa often times played the US by trying to draw them into Mexican internal conflicts. Villa folklore ignored the fact that he murdered countless asians including walking them off the roof of the highest building in Chihuahua. A cold blooded killer, the commander of the Northern army (the most feared army in Mexico during that time), and a governor who carried out significant land reform in the north.

Carranza — The leader most associated with persecution of the church. His presidential victory in 1917 was the death knell for an independent church. Francisco Mujica speaking to the Constitutional committee in Queretaro signaled the government’s new stance:

“I am a foe of the clergy, because I consider it the most disgraceful and perverse enemy of our people. What has the clergy given…our nation? The most absurd ideas, the greatest contempt for our democratic institutions, the most unrelenting hatred for the very principles of equity, equality, and fraternity taught by the first democrat, Jesus Christ…. What sort of morality, gentlemen, will the clergy teach our children? We have seen it —the greatest corruption.”

The Constitution of 1917 — Although guaranteeing freedom of religious beliefs, it severely restricted religious practices. Article 24 stated that every religious act must be performed inside the churches which were under the supervision of the government. Article 130 restricted every aspect of religion in Mexico. No longer could priests hear confession, perform marriages; the number and assignments of the clergy were now controlled by the Mexican government; the church was not allowed to own land without the government’s consent [in effect, the Mexican constitution expected religion to remain, in word and deed, in no public place, but only between the two ears of the faithful. Is that not what the left desires in America also? — RMB]

Church leaders did not accept the new Constitution, and began to mobilize support in the US and in Rome.

The Mexican anticlericalism was the work of a small radical minority. Most Mexicans were Catholics and had no desire of seeing religious rituals changed. The Catholic majority response was the only true revolutionary during that period.

Obregon –– Presidency was supposedly to be a period of conciliation which gave way to a strict revolutionary law. However, in 1925 many state legislatures began implementing Article 13 (stripping civilian human rights). Obregon hand-picked his successor, Plutarco Elías Calles.

Calles — The true enemy of the church gained power in 1926 and began attacking the church on two fronts. First the leader of Church opposition, Jose Mora y del Rio was placed on trial; second, Calles immediately implemented Article 130 and Article 3 which prohibited schools operated by the Church. Calles actions prompted the church to suspend all church services until the anticlerical laws had been amended. The church went on strike, which was called by the Archbishop Mora y del Río who was promptly exiled by Calles. They also called for economic boycotts which did not hold because of economic issues throughout Mexico at that time. The 1917 constitution was amended in 2015 with little substantive change.

Calles did not count on popular opposition that resulted from these actions and the war that ensued.

Outcome was predictable: the Church survived despite being called the counter revolutionary. Actually, now the strongest Catholic Church in the world today is in Mexico with their devotion to our lady of Guadalupe and to Christ the King. If you happen to enter a factory throughout Mexico you will see a statue of “The Lady” at the center of the work area.

Carranza was assassinated, Obregon was assassinated by a Cristero, and Calles was exiled to the US [which he passionately hated for the anti-Communist attitudes of her people — RMB] in 1936. The Cristero war took 90,000 lives: 60,000 government, 30,000 Cristeros guerrillas, plus countless civilians. A settlement was finally reached between the Vatican and the government which ended the conflict in 1929.

This war was started by the liberals under the direction of Plutarco Calles against his own people and is not included anywhere in the memories of a nation. It was basically covered up, so much so, that few Mexicans are even aware that this ever happened.

The Vatican conferred sainthood to twenty-three clerical and laymen martyrs at the beginning of the 21^st century. A brief accounting of their sacrifices will be listed in the next and final post on the Cristiada.

Plutarco Calles (center) and American Ambassador, Dwight Morrow (right), circa 1928. Morrow negotiated a cease fire to the Cristiada but not before tens of thousands had been killed.

Miguel Pro, Roman Catholic priest, executed in 1927. Although Mexican President Calles fully expected him to recant and had planned to use his recantation for propaganda purposes, Rev. Pro prayed, then stood before his executioners, spreading his arms as a sign of the cross and said his last words, “May God have mercy on you…. Lord, you know that I am innocent. With all my heart I forgive my enemies. Viva Cristo Rey!”

Prelude to the Cristiada II

October 28, 2022October 28, 2022 Richard Barnes

“The United States cherish very sinister designs toward Mexico and desire that a condition of complete anarchy should supervene.” — Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary (December, 1913)

“I am going to teach [Mexico] to elect good men.” — Woodrow Wilson (November, 1913)

Comparing President Woodrow Wilson’s pious pronouncements about Mexico with his related actions and directives stretches the intellect beyond the breaking point. And it helps one to understand the utter exasperation easily perceived in the dispatches and minutes of foreign diplomats (Belgium, England, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and more) who did their best to mediate between the intransigent American president and his Mexican counterpart, who early on offered to resign with minimal conditions but whose offers were rebuffed by the rigid American. An attitude that would be repeated — with catastrophic results — in Versailles only six years later.

As explained in the prior post, Victoriano Huerta assumed the presidency of Mexico on February 19, 1913, pursuant to a 126-0 vote of Mexico’s congress, in accordance with Mexico’s constitution. Less than a month later, on March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as president of the United States.

Wilson despised Huerta — as amply substantiated by contemporary minutes and diaries, let alone actions and directives.

A brief quote by one of his allies, Robert Lansing, who would serve as Wilson’s secretary of state from 1915 to 1920, provides us a good summation of Wilson’s attitude and approach to Mexico and Huerta:

“With him it was a matter of conviction formed without weighing evidence and going through the process of rational deduction …. His judgments were always right in his own mind, because he knew they were right …. He knew it and that was the best reason in the world — no other was necessary.”

Mr. Lansing’s diplomatic words can be summed up in one: sanctimoniousness. And that translated into desastre for Mexico and her people.

As noted previously, after Francisco Madero’s rebellion against Porfirio Díaz and the latter’s resignation, Mexico descended rapidly into anarchy, a dreadful contrast from the previous 34 years of peace. Huerta, who had served three presidents, including Madero, eventually worked to depose him to prevent further chaos and bloodletting. Wilson refused to recognize Mexico under Huerta and this refusal was blatantly inconsistent with his actions elsewhere in Latin America.

For example, in February, 1914, when a military junta seized power in Peru, the London Times reported, “President Wilson, if he lives up to his declared policy against unconstitutional government, may be unable to recognize the new regime.” However, Wilson recognized it immediately with not even an inquiry as to the prospects for a future move towards democracy.

He also, with a whoop and a holler, recognized China despite its president having murdered a rival.

Impervious to his hypocrisy, he looked kindly upon Peru and China, both of whose leaders had acquired power without even the semblance of constitutionality, while assiduously seeking the overthrow of his southern neighbor. Just how the former differed from the situation in the latter was known only to the president, other than his cryptic reply to a cabinet official who had asked whether the Chinese regime was really democratic: “…. after years of study he had only one final conviction in government, and that was that the same sort of government was not suitable for all nations.” A statement which channelled Huerta and the Mexican government but which Wilson refused to apply to them.

Clearly the president employed a double standard while refusing to heed advice from those who had worked in or with Mexico for many years and who understood the country and its people.

Throughout 1913 and up to July 15, 1914, when Huerta resigned, President Wilson supported Venustiano Carranza and his loudly self-proclaimed “Constitutionalist” rebellion.

In the first place, his rebellion had nothing “constitutionalist” about it. His uprising arose as soon as he saw that Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize Huerta. He proclaimed his “Plan de Guadalupe” signed by his own collaborators and subordinates. This “Plan” proclaimed him “Primer Jefe” [First Chief].

Carranza, like all Jacobins before and since, understood the need to appropriate language. The Jacobins tossed the term “virtue” around more than you could shake a stick at. And they kept proclaiming it from the rooftops even as the blood of thousands of decapitations flowed like rivers throughout France. Their virtue could not be questioned. After all, they said they personified virtue, no?

Likewise, nowhere in Mexico’s constitution would anyone ever see the title “Primer Jefe” nor would anyone ever discern the creation of a government on the basis of a self-proclamation signed by the proclaimer’s underlings. But the “Constitutionalist” term hit the sweet spot and it was all President Wilson needed.

And even after it became clear to any barely objective observer that Carranza’s movement was utterly despotic and terroristic, and that nothing about it was “constitutional”, the United States, directed by President Wilson, continued to aid the “Carrancistas” with materiel and moral support. Like all dictators or would-be dictators, Carranza’s actions were realized by means of arbitrary “decrees” headlined by the phrase, “In virtue of the extraordinary faculties invested in me….” A phrase nowhere countenanced in Mexico’s constitution which he purported to be defending.

Carranza’s uprising and government of areas he subjected — with United States weapons — was scandalously corrupt, as opposed to “constitutional”. His criminal hordes (there is no other way to describe his men based on their actions; to call them “troops” would be an insult to honorable soldiers everywhere) demolished vast swathes of Mexico’s civilizational patrimony. Fields were laid waste and haciendas were sacked and burned; valuable mines and business establishments were destroyed and buried; women and girls and boys were assaulted, violated, tortured, and murdered.

Bridges, works of art, trains and railroads were destroyed; prisoners of war were tortured and murdered in cold blood; civilians were accused of collaboration with the enemy — the “enemy” being the constituted government of Mexico — and were executed after indescribable torture.

And, foreshadowing the horrors that awaited Mexico, nuns and virgins awaiting consecration to the church were violently gang raped, tortured, and cruelly murdered in butchery, debauchery, and sacrilege totally unknown to any level of Mexican society. The “Carrancista” hatred of the faith had never before been seen at such a level in Mexico. Jean Meyer in his work, La Cristiada, succinctly described the Carrancistas’ modus operandi: “….upon entering a village or populated area, they confiscated the keys of the church … they took the church goblets and emptied the consecrated communion bread to the horse stalls….”

One need not be a Roman Catholic to be horrified at the actions of these vicious gangs.

But he kept being identified — even to this day! — as a defender of the constitution. It is dangerous to cede control of language to the enemies of objective truth. Such need to be called out. Not doing so will end in bewailing our silence.

Regardless, Carranza’s actions were supported by the United States government under Woodrow Wilson. He encouraged his administration to ignore the arms blockade when it came to allowing shipments of military hardware and weaponry to the “constitutionalist” while strictly enforcing the blockade against the government. He also fought against Huerta diplomatically. Seeing the futility of obtaining arms from the United States, Huerta began to buy them from Europe, but Wilson ordered the blockage and later the occupation of Veracruz.

Carranza’s allies included Pancho Villa whose cruelties were often seen across the border by horrified Texans and New Mexicans whose protestations to the president fell on deaf ears.

Veracruz remained occupied till the end of 1913 when the American commanders handed the port over to General Cándido Aguilar, a Carrancista. Later, after Pancho Villa and Carranza had a falling out, Wilson blocked any supplies of armaments to Villa, while instructing his agencies to allow shipments to Carranza’s forces.

These and other actions by a United States president explain William F. Buckley, Sr.’s sworn testimony before the House Foreign Relations Committee in 1919: “… the abnormal element of the present series of revolutions is the active participation in them by the American Government.”

Space obligates me to pass over much more, including Wilson’s daily nefarious interference with the mediation efforts by diplomats from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile to a peace settlement. It got to a point where the three delegations resigned, but were persuaded to return to the table. With hindsight, perhaps they should not have.

One such outrageous interference was to insist on the participation by Carranza, against all the rules of civilized mediation efforts which forbad one of the parties who continued to rape and pillage and murder while “mediation” took place. The South Americans refused to acquiesce to this outrage, to their eternal credit. However, Wilson’s “personal representative”, John Lind, kept Carranza informed daily and, congruent with Carranza’s instructions, made unreasonable demands on the mediators, who were unaware of the daily backchannel Wilson sustained with Carranza.

In sum, the American president willfully ignored the glaring contradictions between the Carrancistas’ pronouncements and their actions and worked assiduously and, regrettably, successfully to bequeath Mexico to the Carrancistas.

The first major action by Carranza was to dispense with the constitution he had been supposedly defending by calling for an assembly to “reform” it by means of proclaiming a new constitution. The assembly was loudly hailed to be one that would express the “popular sovereignty”. Another sleight of hand with the language. “Popular sovereignty” sounded good to post-French-Revolution ears; however, the reality was quite different. To take perhaps the most egregious, not to mention foreboding, example of actions contradicting words, the fourth article of Carranza’s decree calling for the convention stated that such as “had helped with arms or served by means of public employment in the governments hostile to the constitutionalist cause…” were prohibited from participating.

Therefore, the assembly excluded anyone associated with Huerta, Zapata, Villa, or being suspected of having been — a truly elastic condition — in addition anyone who was in the slightest suspected of professing the Christian faith.

Put another way, over 90% of the population was excluded from representation. That’s some “popular sovereignty”!

The constitutional assembly was sectarian to the utmost, composed entirely by Carrancistas named directly by Carranza or by his right hand henchman, Álvaro Obregón, but supposedly “elected” in rigged and manipulated elections. This became very clear when it was obvious that, to this day, we still do not have a bonafide number of delegates to the assembly. The number varied day by day.

The spirit that reigned was totally Jacobin, intransigent, and — at the risk of being repetitive — anti-Christian. One of the deputies, José Natividad Macías, synthesized this spirit very well:

“…there is a deep religious sentiment in this people and the customs of a people are not changed from night to day; in order to ensure this people ceases to be Christian, for a people to stop being Christian, for the sentiment that reigns today to disappear, education is necessary and not just an education of one day or two or three; it is not sufficient to have won the revolution; the Mexican people continue to be ignorant, superstitious, and completely attached to her ancient beliefs and her ancient customs, unless we educate them.”

Using another of the Left’s disarming words, education, the delegate’s expressions sound harmless to anyone reading them a century later. However, such words and sentiments led to the horrendous Cristiada.

And those were the beliefs that characterized an assembly purporting to “represent” the Mexican people. Yeah. Right.

Again, space does not permit an analysis of the constitution this rabble drafted. Suffice it to say, such was never submitted to a referendum and her anti-Christian spirit and text are totally contrary to the “sentiments of the nation”.

The constitution is openly authoritarian (it “bestows” rights, for instance) and “anti-Catholic”; however, I would caution my Protestant brethren to not dismiss the latter wording. In Mexico, as in revolutionary France, “anti-Catholic” must be read as “anti-Christian”, for that is what it is. For example, one of the revolutionary leaders, Tomás Garrido Canabal, named his son, Lenin, because he (Lenin) was an enemy of God. He had a farm with a bull named God, a cow named Mary, and a donkey named Christ. Must one be a Roman Catholic to be appalled by such blasphemy?

The Carrancista constitution went into effect in 1917. Mexico now faced an uncertainty and arbitrariness that persisted well into the latter 20th Century and beyond. But, most horribly, a mere decade later, she would face a Cristiada with untold cruelty and bloodletting occasioned by a radically atheistic president determined to “enforce” with the constitution.

As for Woodrow Wilson, he was re-elected with the slogan, “He kept us out of war!”, meaning war with Mexico.

The only truth in that slogan was that we had not formally or officially declared war on Mexico. However, we plunged that country into a chaos which led to the horrendous bloodletting of the Cristiada. And we ourselves, under Wilson, also went to a war whose aftermath continues with us to this very day.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), President from 1913 to 1921

Robert Lansing (1864-1928), Secretary of State from 1915 to 1920

One of thousands of decapitations during the French Revolution. They were so “virtuous” that no one dared say otherwise.

Left to right: Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920), Francisco “Pancho” Villa (1878-1923); Francisco Madero (1873-1913); Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919). Each was assassinated.

The Mexican Revolution 1910 – 1920: Part 3 — Scorecard — Mike Ashe

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Richard Barnes

[This is the third of a 4-part post: Prologue and Beginning; Civil War and Ending; Scorecard; US Interventions. This part, “Scorecard”, focuses on names and I found it to be of much help in “matching” names to timeframes and events. Americans are well-advised to be more cognizant of the major events of our neighbor to the south — RMB]

Scorecard of the Revolution

It’s hard to follow the events and participants of the revolution without a scorecard. Hopefully this will help answer the questions raised in the prologue.

[Mike’s prologue asks whether the Mexican Revolution advanced the interests of the Mexican people. See Part 1 for more — RMB]

Presidents in Chronological Order After Porfirio Diaz beginning in 1910:

1) Francisco Madero — In office 1911-1913. From Mexico’s wealthiest families, from the State of Coahuila. Educated in UC Berkley. Assassinated by Victoriano Huerta in 1913. Resting place: Monument of the Revolution, Mexico City

2) Victoriano Huerta — In office by coup 1913-1914. From the state of Jalisco. Military Career. Presidency not recognized by US as legitimate. US President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to Vera Cruz and into Mexico City. Huerta fled the country to Jamaica, UK, Spain, and the US, continuing to plan another coup until his death in El Paso Texas. Viewed with great disdain then and now.

[Huerta is indeed viewed very negatively. But, as usual, there is more to the story, especially the catastrophic effect of Woodrow Wilson’s supposedly moralistic approach to foreign policy and his responsibility behind Huerta’s actions. If interested, The United States and Huerta, by Kenneth Grieb is a good resource — RMB]

4) Venustiano Carranza — 1915-1920. Wealthy land owner from the state of Coahuila-Northern Mexico. A shrewd politician and Primer Jefe of the constitutionalists. A pragmatic governing style did not win him many friends at the time but history has been kind to him. His assassination in 1920 marks the ending of the Revolutionary Period in Mexico.

Noteworthy Combatants:

1) Alvaro Obregón — From the State of Sonora (Northern Mexico). Most successful of all the Constitutionalist Revolutionary Generals. A practitioner of Modern Warfare used in WW1, he was able to defeat all his enemies including Huerta, Villa, and Zapata. In his fight against Villa his right arm was blown off, which nearly killed him. His severed arm was recovered, embalmed, and put on display at the Parque de la Bombilla in Mexico City. Obregón was the first post revolution president from 1920-1924. In 1928 he was again elected president but assassinated shortly after his reelection.

[Obregón chose Plutarco Calles (see below) as his successor. He is rarely held accountable for this nefarious decision, but ought to be — RMB]

2) Emiliano Zapata — From the state of Morelos (south of Mexico City). A champion of the peasants and agrarian reform, Zapata was a fierce fighter and feared by many which resulted in his assassination in 1919, ordered by Carranza.

3) Jose Doroteo Arrango Arambula, aka Pancho Villa — Northerngeneral allied with Zapata against Carranza in a full-fledged civil war. Lost to Obregón. In 1916 invaded Columbus New Mexico to goad the US into war with Mexico. Was assassinated in 2023. In 1976 his remains were reburied in the Monument to the Revolution.

4) Pascual Orozco Vázquez, Jr. — Army General who led forces that ended Diaz’s presidency by first raiding government garrisons. In 1911 after ambushing federal troops, he ordered their uniforms to be removed and sent to the President with a note which read, “Ahí te van las hojas, mándeme mas tamales” (Here are the wrappers; send me more tamales). He later joined Huerta in planning a coup to overthrow Carranza supported by the Germans circa WWI years. He exiled himself to the US from whence he, with Huerta, sought financial assistance to take power in Mexico. He was arrested along with Huerta in Texas, but escaped. He and three of his men were ambushed and killed in 1915. In 1925 his remains were returned to Chihuahua.

5) Plutarco Elias Calles — Northern General under Obregón; later became president in 1924-28. Responsible for the Cristeros War.

[Plutarco Calles was born in poverty; his mother and alcoholic father were not married, at a time when such was keenly disapproved of. After his mother’s death, he was reared by his uncle, an ardent atheist and fanatical anti-Christian. Unsurprisingly, Calles was vehemently anti-church and worked tirelessly to eliminate her. No public religious services were held for three years, until 1929, after he left office, although his influence persisted for over half a decade more. Upon the election of Lázaro Cárdenas — even more leftist than Calles — in 1934, he was exiled and lived in California until 1941, when he was allowed to return to Mexico where he died in 1945 — RMB]

6) Enrique Gorostieta — Huerta’s youngest general who fled to Cuba after Huerta was defeated. Later, he returned as General of the Cristeros even though he was a Mason and anti-cleric.

[Andy Garcia played the role of Gorostieta in the film, For Greater Glory, in which Ruben Blades played a credible Plutarco Calles — RMB]

The 1917 Mexican Constitution

There were four constitutions before 1917. The 1917 constitution created a minimum wage, the right to strike, and an eight-hour workday. It also implemented a strict separation of church and state, land reforms, and term limits for the president and the legislature. It also contained a statute limiting the amount of land that a person could own and legalized the federal government’s expropriation and redistribution of land.

Articles 3, 5, 24, 27, and 130 were anticlerical and restricted the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico.

Article 3 — According to the religious definitions established under article 24, educational services shall be secular and free of any religious orientation.

Article 27 Places of worship are owned by the state, not the church

Article 130 Gave the right of the federal government to regulate church services. President Plutarco Elias Calles issued an executive decree to strictly enforce this article that led to the Cristeros war.

Like Mexican slavery, most Mexicans do not know much about the Cristeros war; it was shamefully covered up.

[Calles’ power continued for over half a decade beyond his presidency. He named his ally, Tomás Garrido Canabal, to serve in Lázaro Cárdenas’ cabinet. Garrido, like Callas, was a virulent atheist. He named his son, Lenin, because he (Lenin) was an enemy of God. He had a farm with a bull named God, a cow named Mary, and a donkey named Christ. He zealously pursued the anti-church policies of Callas, even years after the official end of the Cristeros War. After he ordered the murders of Christians in Mexico City, in 1935, Cárdenas sent him to Costa Rica. He died in Los Angeles in 1943 — RMB]

[Unsurprisingly, both Calles and Garrido ceased to be atheists upon their respective deaths — RMB]

The constitution was amended 62 times from 1917-1979 and 137 times from 1980-2016.

Alvaro Obregón (1880-1928) after the Battle of Celaya in 1915. A brave and colorful soldier and man.

Venustiano Carranza is seated on the left; Francisco Madero is seated, third from the left; Pascual Orozco is seated on the right. Pancho Villa is standing on the left.

Pascual Orozco, third from left; Francisco Madero, second from right (circa 1911)

Plutarco Calles (1877-1945) at his house in Mexico City (circa 1931) where he continued to hold strategic meetings after his presidency.

Andy Garcia in the role of Enrique Gorostieta in the film, *For Greater Glory,* one of the very few dramatizations of a truly terrible product of the Mexican Revolution.

Graham Greene’s novel, later made into a John Ford film starring Henry Fonda and Pedro Armendariz. The Mexican official who pursues the Christians is believed to be modeled after Tomás Garrido Canabal.

Tomás Garrido Canabal (1890 – 1943), virulent anti-Christian, still considered a revolutionary hero by the usual suspects

The Mexican Revolution 1910 – 1920

August 26, 2022August 26, 2022 Richard Barnes

[This is the second of a 4-part post: Prologue and Beginning; Civil War and Ending; Scorecard; US Interventions. The reader will recognize several names from movies, novels, or other sources, but Mike manages to put them in at least a general context which enhances our understanding and, if interested, encourages further study. Regardless of the level of interest, Americans are well-advised to be more cognizant of the major events of our neighbor to the south — RMB]

Civil War and Ending — Mike Ashe

The Civil War Breaks Out

Francisco Madero was assassinated by the commander of Los Federales (federal troops) Victoriano Huerta in 1913. Huerta assumed power and dissolved the congress. At the same time, Jose Venustiano Carranza (a shrewd Politician) issued the Plan de Guadalupe to oust Huerta. His plan called for agrarian reform (unlike Zapata’s Plan de Ayala which was specific to the state of Morelos) and created communally held village lands called “ejidos” for all of Mexico. At the same time, he became the leader of the Northern Coalition (Alvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa).

[One of the effects of the violent civil war that broke out in Mexico was the thousands of refugees fleeing north across the border. This was a major issue when Woodrow Wilson took office in 1913 — RMB]

In 1914 Woodrow Wilson sent Marines to Vera Cruz and before entering the port city bombarded it — resulting in great numbers of civilian deaths, as well as that of young naval academy cadets, to support the revolutionaries. This tipped the scale and led to victories by revolutionary troops and Huerta resigned and left the country. The US exited Mexico City leaving behind valuable military hardware for Carranza whom Wilson supported.

[Madero’s “liberal” philosophy was to upend the social order in Mexico by destroying the landed aristocracy and the Roman Catholic church, thereby sowing the seeds which eventuated in the terrible Cristeros War a decade after his death. His politics bore constitutional fruit in 1916 (see below). After his assassination, Wilson refused to recognize Huerta’s government and relations deteriorated between Mexico and the United States, especially after Veracruz — RMB]

Political infighting and shifting alliances/coalitions between Obregon, Villa, Zapata, and Carranza led to the Convention of the revolutionary generals in Aguascalientes (north of Mexico City). The convention was a failure resulting in more civil war.

Villa and Zapata appealed to the peasant population but not to the urban workers. Carranza used this and his strong stance against the US occupation of Vera Cruz and Mexico City to political advantage.

His armies also held strategic positions such as the Ports of Vera Cruz, Port of Tampico, Mexico City, and the oil fields. Carranza defeated the northern armies and the Zapatistas in 1915.

Once an ally of the unions, he feared their continued strength worrying about the survival of capitalism with the number of labor strikes increasing. He first tried to negotiate with the workers but a series of general strikes forced him to use his troops to suppress their movement. In 1916 the Constitutional army along with foreign investors forcibly disbanded the Casa de Obrero Mundial and defeated the working-class revolution.

Obregon became Carranza’s minister of war.

During the presidency of Porfirio Diaz, foreign mining companies received generous concessions; however, Carranza issued a decree to return the wealth of oil and coal to the Mexican people, raised taxes, and removed the diplomatic recourse for mining companies. These policies were opposed by the US, but she did recognize Carranza as president.

[The stated purpose of Carranza’s nationalizations was indeed to bequeath Mexico’s natural wealth to her people. However, the fruits of these policies are still evanescent to this day, when wealth is unevenly distributed, much as it was at the end of Porfirio Diaz’s rule — RMB]

In 1916 a constitutional convention was held in Queretaro with 85 conservatives and 132 radicals. The radicals promoted widespread labor reform and Articles 3 and 130 were strongly anticlerical; the Roman Catholic Church was denied recognition as a legal entity, priests were denied rights and subject to public registration; religious education was forbidden, public religious ritual outside the church were forbidden, and all churches were property of the nation. The position of Vice President was eliminated, and Carranza became president in 1917.

[In March 1916, Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing 20 Americans. Despite the demands of outraged senators, Wilson did not declare war on Mexico, although he did order Brigadier General John J. Pershing deep into Mexico in a fruitless mission to capture Villa. Wilson ran for reelection in 1916 on the slogan, “He kept us out of war”, meaning war with Mexico, and, by implication, the then raging Great War, which we nevertheless entered in 1917 — RMB]

Fighting continued against Carranza including Emiliano Zapata in the Morelos mountains, Porfirio Diaz supporters active in Vera Cruz, and Pancho Villa active in Chihuahua. Obregon retired to his ranch in Sonora and Carranza ordered the assassination of Zapata in 1919.

Carranza remained neutral during World War I mainly due to anti-American sentiment resulting from interventions and invasions. This was a smart move by Carranza keeping German Companies operating and selling oil to the British to fuel their warships against the Germans.

In 1920 Carranza decided against running for president again but failed to promote Alvaro Obregon as his successor. Obregon and his allies, Sonora generals (Plutarco Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta), issued the Plan de Agua Prieta. It repudiated the Carranza government and renewed the Revolution.

Ending of the Revolution

A Carranza assassination attempt failed which prompted Obregon to bring his army to Mexico City. Carranza fled to Vera Cruz where he was assassinated on May 21, 1920. The telegram ordering his death was from Colonel Lazaro Cardenas, a future president of Mexico.

There were 30,000 mourners at his funeral cortege. He was buried among ordinary Mexicans in a third-class section of the cemetery. His heart was kept by the family and later reunited with his body in 1942 at the Monument to the Revolution.

Carranza’s death marked the end of the Mexican Revolution.