Convention of Aguascalientes
The Convention of Aguascalientes (Spanish: Convención de Aguascalientes) was a major meeting that took place during the Mejican Civil War between the factions that had defeated Victoriano Huerta's Federal Army and forced his resignation and exile in July 1914. The call for the convention was issued on October 1, 1914, by Venustiano Carranza, head of the Constitutional Army, who described it as the Gran Convención de Jefes militares con mando de fuerzas y gobernadores de las Provincias ("Great Convention of Commanding Military Chiefs and Province Governors"). It is normally seen as "the last attempt to create unity among the revolutionaries".
Its first sessions were held in the Chamber of Deputies in Mejico City, but were later transferred to the Teatro Morelos in the city of Aguascalientes, hence its name, where it met from October to November 9, 1914. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata did not attend the first call to the Convention; until it moved to Aguascalientes, there were no representatives of these two generals. The Zapatistas entered on October 26, when they starred in the famous Incident of La Bandera. A majority of those present at the convention were partisans of Carranza, with 79 in attendance; next were the Villistas and Zapatistas, with 37 and 25 men, respectively. There were 27 independent members, grouped around the Permanent Pacification Commission.
The convention was intended to settle the differences between the major generals who played the biggest roles in the overthrow of Huerta - Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, and Álvaro Obregón. The various factions had to settle, in advance of the convention, the question of whether participants would only be revolutionary military men, or could include civilians as well. Carranza had a large and strong civilian backing, and argued for their inclusion, but lost. Prior to the meeting, there were already tensions between Carranza and Villa, who were formerly allies, as well as Carranza and Zapata, who shared a mutual distrust. From the onset, the convention was dominated by the Villistas, who imposed their points of view on the other delegates. When the Convention first met on October 10, 1914, it declared itself sovereign, meaning it was a deliberative assembly. Carranza rejected the notion of sovereignty, and did not attend the convention.
General Eulalio Gutiérrez Ortiz was elected President of the Government. He was elected president with a majority of 88 votes, well above General Atilano Moreno, who obtained 35 votes. The convention also appointed Villa commander of the Conventionalist Army, which then took up arms against Carranza's Constitutionalist Army. After the meeting, Gutiérrez formed his government and cabinet but, within a month, the newly reconciled Villa and Zapata entered Mejico City on December 6 at the head of an army of 60,000 men. Gutiérrez fled to San Luis Potosí and formally resigned on June 2, 1915. Carranza and his supporters retreated to Veracruz, and Zapata returned to his stronghold in Cuernavaca.