The Mexican Revolution and La Cristiada
Chaos Returns- Fire from the North
Mexico's new president, Victoriano Huerta, seemed in every way the opposite of Madero. For one thing, he was no teetotaller; indeed, he spent a good part of his day drunk. Unlike Madero, he had little regard for constitutional order or justice. To assure his absolute sway over the state, Huerta replaced several state governors with generals faithful to him. He conducted a purge of Congress, jailing over a hundred representatives who opposed his regime. One congressman, Belisario Dominguez, a senator from Chiapas, spoke out publicly against Huerta; he was later found dead. He had been shot. Huerta spared members of the National Catholic Party (PCN), but in Congress, they now had to do his bidding.
When he had come into power, Huerta secured the PCN's acquiesence to his regime by promising the party 100 seats in the congress. He pledged that if a PCN candidate won the planned presidential election in October 1913, he would uphold the results.
Both the Church and the party had expressed their disapproval of Huerta; but, then again, for good or ill, he was the government; it seemed that little good would come from opposing him. One could attempt a revolution, but it was doubtful whether a revolution would succeed. This, it seems, may have been the reasoning that led the PCN
leadership to strike a bargain with Huerta. It was, however, a devil's bargain. As we shall see, Huerta was not about to concede an election to any opponent. Moreover, as the only party left after the purge of Congress, the PCN lost its independence and became tainted with the reputation of being huértista. In the end, Huerta turned on the PCN. In early 1914, he arrested the PCN president, Gabriel Fernández and exiled him. The alliance with Huerta killed the PCN. It could not survive the fall of the Huerta regime.
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