Agua Prieta Plan: Background, Objectives, Characters and Consequences

He Water Plan Prieta It was a project orchestrated by three generals of the Mexican Revolution in order to reveal itself to the regime of President Venustiano Carranza. After the execution of this plan on April 22, 1920, the Executive Power of the country and all the supporters of the Carranza regime were ignored.

The then president had obtained power after an armed movement that culminated in the defeat of the Zapatistas in 1915 at the Battle of Celaya. One of the authors of the movement was Álvaro Obregón, a general who had remained loyal to Venustiano Carranza until the decision that the president made to eliminate the militarist interventions.

Although the government of Carranza sought to end military participation in the government, the Agua Prieta Plan did not allow this to happen. The movement culminated in the assassination of the president and the holding of new elections to reestablish a constitutional government, this time controlled by the military and not civilians.

Background

By 1913 Venustiano Carranza had served as governor of Coahuila for 2 years, beginning his term in 1911. He had come to power with the support of then President Francisco Madero. However, during his tenure as governor relations with Madero deteriorated.

In fact, Carranza himself predicted that at any moment the military would overthrow the president. Preventing this, he decided to form alliances with the rest of the liberal governments of Mexico.

In 1913 three soldiers overthrew the Francisco Madero government. Imagine that Madero's life would be in danger after his overthrow, Carranza offered him asylum in Coahuila; however, he failed to prevent his murder.

Carranza saw the opportunity to seize the power of president, having been a military officer in charge. Cohauila declared in a state of rebellion against the regime, but lost the first battles for lack of troops.

However, shortly after he realized that he had the support of a large number of sectors of the country, including a handful of soldiers.

His arrival in power and decisions he made

Venustiano Carranza counted on the military support to take the government, being its main objective to reestablish the civil mandate and to end the military might in Mexico. He was never a military man, but was in the strategic command of the troops in his campaign to take over the government.

However, he had the help of a farmer turned military, Alberto Obregón. This supported him throughout the campaign until the takeover of the government in 1915.

After taking power in Mexico, Carranza declared himself"preconstitutional"governor. He would remain in power until holding elections in 1917, which he managed to win democratically.

However, his goal of keeping the military out of power was not liked by the armed forces of the nation, particularly for Obregon, who planned to launch himself as a candidate for the next presidential election. For this reason, it was decided to execute the Agua Prieta Plan, which had broad support from the military.

What were the objectives?

The main objective of the plan was to deny military support to the federal government of Carranza. In addition, he refused to recognize the results of the elections of six Mexican provinces and the election of a governor.

However, the military executors of the plan offered to the local authorities not to enter armed confrontations, as long as they did not attack the constitutionalist army of the rebels.

This army was commanded by Adolfo de la Huerta, whom they would designate as president of Mexico once the mission of the plan was completed: the overthrow of Carranza.

Another of the main focuses of the plan was the early call for elections once a new government was established. This was the goal of Adolfo de la Huerta, who called general elections as soon as he was named interim president, to elect a new president in a constitutional manner.

Prominent figures

Venustiano Carranza

Carranza's antimilitarist policies were the main cause of the creation of the Agua Prieta Plan. His development as president was not considered bad, from a political point of view. In fact, its objective was to isolate the military government and create a civil constitutionality.

The problem he faced was the strong support that the military had among themselves. In addition, he made the mistake of trying to run Ignacio Bonillas for the 1920 elections.

Bonillas was the ambassador of the United States, but nobody knew him in Mexico. Both the people and the military saw this as a move by Carranza to remain in power"behind the scenes,"which caused widespread discontent among future voters.

Ignacio Obregón

Obregón was the main architect of the movement to overthrow Carranza. After having supported him for years in previous political movements, the military was planning to launch as a presidential candidate in 1920.

The limitation of this move by Carranza ended up costing both the presidency and the same life to the former governor of Coahuila.

Ignacio Bonillas

Bonillas was a civilian who acted as the ambassador of Mexico in the United States. He did a brilliant job in the embassy, ​​but he had never participated in any military movement.

In addition, his work was not known by the people. His appointment as a civilian candidate for the 1920 election was a political error by Carranza.

Adolfo de la Huerta

De la Huerta was in charge of succeeding Carranza in power after his overthrow in the Plan de Agua Prieta.

In addition to having commanded the Constitutional Army, he called for elections as interim president to make way for Obregon, who became the thirty-ninth president of Mexico.

Consequences

The main consequence of the plan was the murder of Venustiano Carranza. When the plan was launched, three thirds of the army joined the rebels against Carranza.

The then president never gave up. While trying to escape the rebel persecution, he was ambushed along with a group of his followers near Puebla, which caused his death.

The first step that was taken - as expected - was the establishment of the head of the Constitutional Army, Adolfo de la Huerta, as president. A few days after his establishment, he called general elections. In these elections Álvaro Obregón won, as had been planned in principle.

The military and rebels who had risen up against the presidency of Carranza lowered their arms and the movement ended. They gave their practically unconditional support to Obregon, which again restored peace in Mexico.

References

1. Plan of Water Prieta, Encyclopedia of Latin American Culture, (n.d.). Taken from encyclopedia.com
2. Plan of Agua Prieta, Álvaro Obregón, April 29, 1920. Taken from unm.edu
3. Plan of Agua Prieta, Wikipedia en Español, January 6, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
4. Adolfo de la Huerta, Wikipedia in English, March 4, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
5. Alberto Obregón, Wikipedia en Español, March 12, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
6. Venustiano Carranza, Wikipedia en Español, March 12, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org