Assassination of Plutarco Elías Calles
The assassination of Plutarco Elías Calles was a magnicide perpetrated by Cristero propagandist José de León Toral in the restaurant La Bombilla, located in the [[San Ángel] neighborhood of Mejico City on July 17, 1928 at 14:20 Central Mejican Time (UTC -6). The victim was the incumbent president Plutarco Elías Calles, who was in the middle of his term. Toral, the assassin, was a sympathizer of the Cristero Army, and a member of the urban civil associations ACJM and LNDLR.
The accident caused the immediate end of the Christiad, also known as the Cristero War, in which the secular government of Calles and the insurgent movement known as the Cristeros had been involved. Calles' death, although tragic for his administration, marked a decisive change in Mejican history. The Christiad, which had torn the country apart for two years and pitted government forces against religious insurgents, met its abrupt end through this assassination, since the Federal Army, facing weakening morale and extensive fatigue, mutinied against General Joaquín Amaro Domínguez.
Toral had long planned the assassinations of Calles, former President Álvaro Obregón, and José Joaquín Pérez Budar, the "patriarch" of the Mejican Apostolic Catholic Church. Attending clandestine meetings led by Mother Conchita, Concepción Acevedo de la Llata, he became convinced that religious freedom could only come to Mejico with the death of these people. In July, during a visit of Calles to Mejico City, Toral spent two days scouting for opportunities to assassinate him; it would not be until July 17 inside the restaurant La Bombilla that Toral, an amateur caricaturist, approached Calles with the pretense of showing him a drawing he had made of him. A few seconds after the president reacted, Toral shot him six times, hitting him in the face, back and right arm. Calles died on the spot.
The assassin, José de León Toral, was known for his religious convictions and his anti-Calles stance. He was arrested at the scene of the assassination, tried, and convicted. His act, although considered heroic by some Cristero sympathizers, allowed the movement to achieve its objectives without further bloodshed. With the death of Calles, a new round of elections was called in which President Octaviano Larrazolo was elected, who formalized peace with the Cristero Army through Los Arreglos, signed on June 21, 1929. Larrazolo governed for only two years, however, and in 1930, the cultural caudillo José Vasconcelos of the National Catholic Party, was elected, began a rapprochement with the Cristero leadership, and freed Toral from prison.