José de León Toral

José de León Toral (December 23, 1900 – February 9, 1929 in Mexico City) was a Roman Catholic who assassinated General Álvaro Obregón, then-president elect of Mexico, in 1928.

José de León Toral in prison during his trial
José de León Toral as a young man

León Toral was born in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, into a family of Catholic miners. He moved to Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution and witnessed General Obregón closing churches and arresting priests who were suspected of supporting ex-President Victoriano Huerta. In 1920, he joined the National League for the Defense of Religious Freedom, which opposed the governments of Obregón (1920–1924) and Plutarco Elías Calles, and he reportedly was also involved in the Cristero movement.

During the Calles administration, oppression against the Catholic Church greatly expanded in 1926 under the Calles Law, which provided for the execution of priests and other individuals who violated provisions of the 1917 Constitution. Wearing clerical garb in public outside church buildings was punishable by a fine of 500 pesos, then approximately US$250. A priest who criticized the government could be imprisoned for five years with no right to trial by jury.[1]

Some states enacted even more oppressive measures. Chihuahua enacted a law permitting only a single priest to serve all of the state's Catholics.[2] To help enforce the law, Calles seized church property; expelled all foreign priests; and closed the monasteries, convents, and religious schools.[3]

Obregón had been more lenient to Catholics during his time in office, but the Cristeros and almost everyone else believed that Calles was merely his puppet leader.[4]:399 In 1927, two of León Toral's friends, Humberto and Miguel Pro, were executed after they had falsely been accused of plotting to assassinate Obregón. Incited by a Catholic nun, Concepción Acevedo de la Llata, also known as 'Madre Conchita' or Mother Conchita, he decided to assassinate Obregón, whom he blamed for the government's severities against Catholics.

On 17 July 1928, two weeks after Obregón had been re-elected as president, León Toral, a sketch artist, entered La Bombilla restaurant in San Ángel, where a fete honoring Obregón was under way. Disguised as a caricaturist, he drew caricatures of Obregón, the orchestra director, and Aarón Sáenz, and showed them to Obregón,[5] who told him the caricatures were well done and suggested that he should continue. When Obregón turned to sit down, León Toral drew a gun and shot him five or six times in the back, killing him instantly.[4]:403

León Toral was arrested immediately and pleaded guilty, claiming that he killed Obregón to facilitate the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ.[6] Mother Conchita was also arrested and received a 20-year prison sentence but was pardoned after serving 13 years; she eventually married Carlos Castro Balda, a bomber of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.[7][8][9]

Conspiracy theory

The Mexican historian Rius Facius rediscovered the testimony of the inspection of Obregón's corpse carried out by a doctor. The testimony stated that the body had bullet holes of different calibers, which suggested that more than one weapon was used to assassinate Obregón. This builds up this theory that although José de León Toral undoubtedly fired one weapon, he was not the only one, and there were others as well.[10]

Trial of José de León Toral with annotation made by the accused.

Execution

León Toral was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in February 1929. His last words were ¡Viva Cristo Rey! (Long Live Christ the King!), the battle cry of the Cristeros. On Saturday, February 9, 1929, José de León Toral was executed by a platoon in the Palacio de Lecumberri. He immediately became a martyr for the Catholic cause, as his funerals upheld. He was buried in the Spanish Pantheon.

References
  1. Tuck, Jim THE CRISTERO REBELLION – PART 1 Mexico Connect 1996
  2. Mexico, Religion U.S. Library of Congress
  3. Warnock, John W. The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed p. 27 (1995 Black Rose Books, Ltd); ISBN 1551640287
  4. Enrique Krauze (1997). Mexico: Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810–1996. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060163259.
  5. Gobierno de la Ciudad de México. "Semblanza del General Álvaro Obregón". Delegación Álvaro Obregón. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  6. "MEXICO: Ladies & Gentlemen". Time. 12 November 1928.
  7. Zabludovsky, Jacobo (15 July 2013). "Castro Balda se confiesa" [Castro Balda confess]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  8. "Milestones, Nov. 5, 1934". Time. 5 November 1934. Retrieved 16 July 2013. Married. The instigator of Mexican President-Elect Alvaro Obregón's assassination, an ex-nun, Maria Concepcion Acevedo y de la Lata (TIME, July 30, 1928); to Desperado Carlos Castro Balda, convicted of attempting to blow up the Mexican Chamber of Deputies
  9. Zabludovsky, Jacobo (9 April 2007). "La madre Conchita y el aborto" [Mother Conchita and abortion]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  10. "Madera Tribune 13 October 1928 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
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