kevinejohnny: Venustiano Carranza's Presidency

Sunday 3 June 2012

Venustiano Carranza's Presidency

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The country of Mexico, like all democracies, is governed according to the laws put in place by a constitution, which was written in 1917 and is still used to this day. The President who implemented this document was Venustiano Carranza, one of the 'Big Four' leaders of the Mexican Revolution, who took office in 1915 and was assassinated near the end of his term. He was the latest in a line of men whose presidency was a death sentence, but his legacy is undeniable.

Carranza's path to the presidential office began in 1913, when General Victoriano Huerta assassinated the president, Francisco Madero, and implanted himself as dictator. Venustiano was the Governor of Coahuila at the time, but had been privy to a great deal of the political events which had led to the Mexican Revolution's start three years before and he became convinced that he was the right man to bring proper reform to Mexico and end the conflict. To this end he reached out to the rebel leaders Pancho Villa, Alvaro Obregon, and Emiliano Zapata; together the four men formed a massive coalition called the Constitutional Army, who succeeded in ousting Huerta in 1915.

However, the shaky truce between the men fell apart when Carranza declared himself as the interim President; while Obregon sided with him, Villa and Zapata did not, and so Venustiano's first actions as leader involved tracking down and quashing their armies to prevent further counter-revolution. With that accomplished, he set to work bringing change to Mexico. As the leader of the Constitutional Army, he'd outlined the Plan of Guadalupe, which promised restoration of the 1857 Constitution. Thus, in 1916 he convened a convention in the city of Queretaro, with the goal of discussing the national constitution and perhaps redefining some of its shortcomings.

However, the convention was overpowered with liberal radicals who insisted on massive land reform and labor relations. The moderate Carranza was outvoted at every turn as these delegates drafted articles which decreed that only native-born Mexicans had property rights, as well as outlining strict anti-exploitation labor laws. But their most damage came in the legislation regarding the clergy, creating many anti-clerical reforms. They stripped the Roman Catholic Church of recognition as a legal entity, took rights away from priests, and forbade any religious education. The President's dream of a liberal constitution was a distant memory.

From 1917 to 1920, Carranza continued to rule Mexico, but enacted very little change and disappointed a lot of the populace. He faced many enemies, including the continued rebellion of Emiliano Zapata. The President maintained a neutral stance during World War I, but struggled to reform some of the more radical Constitutional articles and also had a problem with public corruption. By the end of his term, he was determined not to run for re-election, and although his natural successor was Obregon, his ally, Venustiano felt that it was time for a civilian to take the ropes, not a military man.

This conviction would prove to be his downfall, as Obregon and a group of sympathetic generals drove Carranza from the capital in April 1920, chasing him into the state of Veracruz; he died less than a month later, shot in the chest and debate continues as to whether it was suicide or assassination. Venustiano had had good intentions, had made some costly mistakes; he's still remembered as the lesser of two evils (compared to Huerta) and the 1917 Constitution was ratified, but is still in place today.

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