Venustiano Carranza

José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (Spanish pronunciation: [benusˈtjano kaˈransa ðe la ˈɣaɾsa]; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican land owner and liberal politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Revolution. He was previously Mexico's de facto head of state as Primer Jefe or "First Chief" of the Constitutionalist faction from 1914 to 1917, and previously served as a senator and governor for Coahuila. He played the leading role in drafting the Constitution of 1917 and maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I.

Born in Coahuila to a prominent landowning family, he served as a senator for his state during the Porfiriato, appointed by President and de facto dictator Porfirio Díaz. After becoming alienated from Díaz, he supported the Liberal Francisco Madero's challenge to Díaz during the 1910 presidential election. Madero was defeated in a sham election and imprisoned. Madero ordered an overthrow of the government and the Díaz regime was toppled in May 1911. As president, Madero appointed Carranza as the governor of Coahuila. When Madero was murdered during the counter-revolutionary Ten Tragic Days coup in February 1913, Carranza drew up the Plan of Guadalupe, a political strategy to oust Madero's usurper, General Victoriano Huerta. Carranza organized militias loyal to his state and allied northern states in Mexico into a professional army, the Constitutional Army to oppose Huerta. The Constitutionalists defeated Huerta's Federal Army and Huerta was ousted in July 1914. Carranza did not assume the title of provisional president of Mexico, as called for in his Plan of Guadalupe, since it would have prevented his running for constitutional president once elections were held. Furthermore his government in this period was in a pre-constitutional, extralegal state, to which both his best generals, Álvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa objected to Carranza's seizure of the national presidency.Following Huerta's defeat, the victors began conflict amongst themselves. Obregón remained loyal to Carranza however Villa broke with him, aligning with peasant leader Emiliano Zapata. Both Zapata and Villa encouraged peasant rebellions in the south and north of Mexico respectively. The Constitutionalist Army under Obregón militarily defeated Villa in the north, and fought guerrilla attacks from Zapata and his peasant army in Morelos. Carranza's position was secure enough politically and militarily to take power in Mexico City, eventually receiving recognition from the United States. The armies of Zapata and Villa formed their own government, the Conventionalists to oppose Carranza. In order to counter their popularity among the peasantry, Carranza and his allies incorporated many of their demands especially around land reform and labor rights into the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which was the world's first constitution to guarantee social rights under the umbrella of constitutional rights. Under this new constitution Carranza was elected president that same year.

The constitution that the revolutionaries drafted and ratified in 1917 now empowered the Mexican state to embark on significant land reform and recognized labor's rights, and curtail the power and influence of the Catholic Church. However Carranza a conservative liberal, and Mexican nationalist did not implement these reforms once he assumed office. Instead he began focusing on internal security by eliminating his political rivals. The Constitutionalists negotiated with Villa to accept the new government in exchange for land and a military pension and Carranza ordered Zapata's assassination in 1919.

In the 1920 election, in which he could not succeed himself, Carranza attempted to impose a virtually unknown, civilian politician, Ignacio Bonillas, as president of Mexico. Sonoran revolutionary generals Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Adolfo de la Huerta, who held significant power, rose up against Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Carranza fled Mexico City, along with thousands of his supporters and with gold of the Mexican treasury, aiming to set up a rival government in Veracruz but he was assassinated in 1920. Although Carranza played a major role in the Revolution, his contributions were not initially acknowledged in Mexico's historical memory, since he was overthrown by his rivals. In retrospect, with a historical narrative that recognizes the various competing factions as members of the "revolutionary family", Carranza's place in Mexican history has been assured. Venustiano Carranza is buried alongside other prominent revolutionary leaders at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City.