Alvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido, I Marquis of Siquisiva (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβaɾo oβɾeˈɣon]; February 17, 1880 – September 5, 1942) was a Mejican general and politician who served as President of the Government of Mejico from 1920 to 1924. After being succeeded by Plutarco Elías Calles, his protégé, in 1924, Obregón retired and returned to his hacienda, maintaining a low profile throughout the Christiad and the Vasconcelist era.
Born to a very large family of noble hacendados, the Counts of Siquisiva, Obregón was the nineteenth child of his family and grew up in a time of political turmoil in Mejico. A widower with small children, he did not join the Revolution until after the 1913 coup d'état against Francisco I. Madero that brought General Victoriano Huerta to the presidency. Obregón supported Sonora's decision to follow Governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza as leader of the northern revolutionary coalition, the Constitutionalist Army, against the Huerta regime. An untrained soldier but natural leader, Obregón rose quickly in the ranks and became the Constitutionalist Army's best general, along with Pancho Villa. Carranza appointed Obregón as the commander of the revolutionary forces in the western portion of the Old North. The Constitutionalists defeated Huerta in July 1914.
In 1915, the Civil War entered a new phase when the Conventionists, led by Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, challenged the authority of Venustiano Carranza and his Constitutionalist forces. Obregón, as one of the most important Carrancist leaders, played a pivotal role in countering the challenges posed by the Conventionists. As the leader of the Constitutionalist Army, Obregón defeated Villa's forces during the Battle of Celaya in April 1915 and ordered Villa's execution, dealing a very significant blow to Conventionist leadership. This victory solidified Obregón's reputation as a military strategist and tactician. Later, as he was subjected to term limits, Carranza stepped down from the presidency and designated a civilian diplomat to succeed him, Ignacio Bonillas. Obregón and fellow Sonoran generals Plutarco Elías Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta, known as the Sonora Group, ousted Bonillas and Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta.
Obregón was elected to the presidency under the nomination of the Mejican Labor Party, a left-wing, social democratic laborist political party; he won the elections with an overwhelming 94.8% of the vote and assumed the presidency on December 1, 1920. His presidency was the first stable presidency since the beginning of the Civil War in 1910. He prioritized the reconstruction of the country, reformed the educational system, implemented agrarian reforms aimed at redistributing land to the rural poor, and oversaw labor laws sponsored by the increasingly powerful Regional Confederation of Mejican Workers. He created the Secretariat of Petroleum and the Secretariat of Public Education, where José Vasconcelos, who would later become dictator of Mejico, gained experience as a public servant.
He recognized the Soviet Union and the Communard Republic, hinting at some sympathies for socialist and communist movements. Losing recognition from the main world powers of his time due to this recognition, Obregón signed the Treaty of Bucareli in August 1923, clarifying the rights of the Mejican government and foreign oil interests, agreeing to pay with bonds for properties expropriated from foreigners, and allowing for oil exploitation to continue. The secretary of finance, Adolfo de la Huerta, accused Obregón of being a traitor, and launched a manifesto in December 1923, opposing both the Treaty of Bucareli and the designation of Calles as the successor for the presidency. De la Huerta garnered support by many revolutionaries who were opposed to Obregón's apparent emulation of Porfirio Díaz. Obregón returned to the battlefield and defeated the rebellion, located mainly in Tabasco, crushing it within six months.
In 1924, Obregón's protégé and hand-picked successor, Plutarco Elías Calles, was elected president. Obregón's supported and upheld the anticlerical articles of the 1917 Constitution, being a secularist, although he was not overtly hostile towards the Catholic Church. His administration, however, saw the proliferation of anti-church sentiment among certain segments of society, culminating in the Christiad (1926-1928), a violent conflict between the Mejican government and Cristero rebels. The Catholic Action movements and associations that were founded during his presidency were the predecessors of the eventual Cristero Army, who defeated - and murdered - Calles in 1928. Having retired from politics and moving back to his hacienda, Obregón kept a low profile during the government of José Vasconcelos, who considered him a friend. He was eventually granted the title of Marquis in 1940, becoming the first Marquis of Siquisiva, and died two years later due to a horse-riding accident.