José de León Toral

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León Toral was born in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, into a family of Catholic miners.{{Cite journal |last=Fajardo Tapia |first=David |date=December 2021 |title=La imagen sacra. Fotohagiografía de José de León Toral |url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0185-26202021000200123&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es |journal=Estudios de historia moderna y contemporánea de México |language=es |issue=62 |pages=123–150 |doi=10.22201/iih.24485004e.2021.62.77455 |s2cid=240806628 |issn=0185-2620|doi-access=free }} 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 War.{{Cite journal |last=López Menéndez |first=Marisol |date=October 2017 |title=Mártires abandonados: militancia católica, memoria y olvido en México |url=http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1853-70812017000200005&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es |journal=Sociedad y religión |volume=27 |issue=48 |pages=97–129 |issn=1853-7081}}{{Cite book |last=Ramírez Rancaño |first=Mario |url=https://ru.iis.sociales.unam.mx/handle/IIS/5539 |title=El asesinato de Alvaro Obregón : la conspiración y la madre Conchita |date=2014 |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales; Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México |isbn=978-607-02-5394-2 |language=es}}{{Cite book |last=Buchenau |first=Jürgen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMhK8yVuaDMC |title=The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution |date=2011-02-04 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-9718-5 |language=en}}

During the Calles administration, religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico 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.Tuck, Jim [http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtcristero1.html THE CRISTERO REBELLION – PART 1] Mexico Connect 1996

Some states enacted even more oppressive measures. Chihuahua enacted a law permitting only a single priest to serve all of the state's Catholics.[http://countrystudies.us/mexico/61.htm Mexico, Religion U.S. Library of Congress] To help enforce the law, Calles seized church property; expelled all foreign priests; and closed the monasteries, convents, and religious schools.Warnock, John W. [https://archive.org/details/othermexiconorth0000warn/page/27 The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed] p. 27 (1995 Black Rose Books, Ltd); {{ISBN|1551640287}}

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.{{cite book |title=Mexico: Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810–1996 |author=Enrique Krauze |author-link=Enrique Krauze |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=9780060163259 |url=https://archive.org/details/mexico00enri}}{{rp|399}} In 1927, two of León Toral's friends, Frs. Humberto and Miguel Pro, were executed after they had falsely been accused{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} of plotting to assassinate Obregón. Allegedly 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 persecution against Catholics.{{Cite journal |last=Rancaño |first=Mario Ramírez |date=2012 |title=La madre Conchita: ¿autora intelectual del asesinato de Álvaro Obregón? |url=https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/BoletinAmericanista/article/view/13642 |journal=Boletín Americanista |language=ca |issue=64 |pages=127–144 |issn=2014-993X}}

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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 party 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,{{cite web |last1=Gobierno de la Ciudad de México |title=Semblanza del General Álvaro Obregón |url=https://www.dao.gob.mx/delegacion/datos_historicos/la_muerte_de_un_caudillo.php |website=Delegación Álvaro Obregón |accessdate=19 July 2018 |archive-date=22 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022033255/http://www.dao.gob.mx/delegacion/datos_historicos/la_muerte_de_un_caudillo.php |url-status=dead }} 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.{{rp|403}}

León Toral was arrested immediately and pleaded guilty, claiming that he killed Obregón to facilitate the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,929032,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121023407/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,929032,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 21, 2010 |magazine=Time |title=MEXICO: Ladies & Gentlemen |date=12 November 1928}} 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.{{cite news |last=Zabludovsky |first=Jacobo |author-link=Jacobo Zabludovsky |title=Castro Balda se confiesa |trans-title=Castro Balda confess |url=http://www.eluniversalmas.com.mx/columnas/2013/07/102525.php |accessdate=16 July 2013 |newspaper=El Universal |date=15 July 2013 |language=Spanish}}{{cite magazine |title=Milestones, Nov. 5, 1934 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882573,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125082808/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882573,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 25, 2010 |accessdate=16 July 2013 |magazine=Time |date=5 November 1934 |quote=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}}{{cite news |last=Zabludovsky |first=Jacobo |author-link=Jacobo Zabludovsky |title=La madre Conchita y el aborto |trans-title=Mother Conchita and abortion |url=http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/columnas/64550.html |accessdate=16 July 2013 |newspaper=El Universal |date=9 April 2007 |language=Spanish |archive-date=17 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417124740/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/columnas/64550.html |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last=Ramírez Rancaño |first=Mario |url=https://ru.iis.sociales.unam.mx/handle/IIS/5539 |title=El asesinato de Alvaro Obregón : la conspiración y la madre Conchita |date=2014 |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales; Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México |isbn=978-607-02-5394-2 |language=es}}{{Cite web |title=El atentado dinamitero en la Cámara de Diputados que hasta "detuvo" el tiempo en 1928 |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/el-atentado-dinamitero-en-la-camara-de-diputados-que-hasta-detuvo-el-tiempo-en-1928/ |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=El Universal |language=es}}

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José de León Toral was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on Saturday, February 9, 1929 in the Palacio de Lecumberri. His last words were ¡Viva Cristo Rey! (Long Live Christ the King!), the battle cry of the Cristeros. He was buried in the Spanish Pantheon.

The Mexican writer 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 led to the theory that although José de León Toral undoubtedly fired one weapon, he was not the only one, and there were other shooters as well.{{Cite web|title=Madera Tribune 13 October 1928 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19281013.2.59&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|access-date=2020-11-19|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}

León Toral, José de, and Concepción Acevedo y de la Llata. 1929. El Jurado De Toral Y La Madre Conchita : Lo Que Se Dijo Y Lo Que No Se Dijo En El Sensacional Juicio : Versión Taquigráfica Textual. Mexico, D.F: publisher not identified.

León Toral, José de, and Concepción Acevedo y de la Llata. 1928. Requisitoria Del Ministerio Público Y Alegatos De Los Defensores En El Jurado De José De León Toral Y Concepción Acevedo Y De La Llata : Reos Del Delito De Homicidio Proditorio Del General Alvaro Obregón. México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación.

Toral de De León, Maria. 1972. Memorias De María Toral De De León [1. ed.] ed. México: Editorial Tradición.

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Category:1900 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:Executed assassins

Category:Executed Mexican people

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Category:Mexican assassins

Category:Christ the King

Category:People convicted of murder by Mexico

Category:Mexican people convicted of murder