The Cristero War was a confrontation between the Mexican government and Catholic groups that took place between 1926 and 1929.
War is a term that comes from the Germanic werra , which can be translated as “fight.” This word, in turn, maintains etymological links with Middle Dutch warre and Old High German wërra .
The idea of war refers to an armed confrontation between two or more countries . It can also refer to a war between groups of the same nation .
A fight that took place in Mexican territory between 1926 and 1929 is known as the Cristero War . The struggle was unleashed by the Cult Tolerance Law sanctioned by the Mexican government and rejected by Catholic groups.
Origins of the Cristero War
Within the framework of the Mexican Revolution ( 1910 – 1917 ), an anticlerical movement began to be forged that led to actions of different kinds and whose intensity varied. With Plutarco Elías Calles as president ( 1924 – 1928 ), opposition to the Catholic Church from government spheres increased.
In this framework, Calles promoted changes in the Penal Code to guarantee compliance with the Mexican Constitution of 1917 , which established a certain state control of the Church. This is how the Cult Tolerance Law emerged, also called the Calles Law , which was enacted on June 14, 1926 .
This regulation empowered governors to establish requirements and conditions for the development of the priesthood, for example . The decision soon generated rejection from the Church and Catholic communities in general.
The intention of the Mexican authorities to impose limits on Catholic worship led to the outbreak of the Cristero War.
Its development
At first, Catholic groups organized a boycott against the government, calling for not paying taxes, not purchasing National Lottery tickets and limiting the purchase of gasoline , among other measures. This campaign affected economic development and led to a radicalization of positions.
In this context , with the aim of repealing the Streets Law , armed militias began to form that met under the slogan "Long live Christ the King!" . These militiamen and their followers began to be called Cristeros .
With repression by the military forces of the State , the Cristero War broke out with battles in multiple cities. It is estimated that some 50,000 people became part of the Cristero side, the vast majority of them peasants. Calles ' army , meanwhile, had the support of the United States .
The end of the Cristero War
It is important to indicate that the Cristero War was driven mainly by peasants. The Mexican ecclesiastical authorities, in general, tried to seek a truce and reach an agreement with the regime.
Negotiations advanced when Emilio Portes Gil became president at the end of 1928 . With the United States ambassador ( Dwight Morrow ) as mediator and a Vatican -appointed bishop ( Pascal Díaz Barreto ) plus an apostolic delegate ( Leopoldo Ruiz y Flores ) as intermediaries, an agreement was reached on June 21, 1929 .
In exchange for their surrender and the delivery of weapons, the government granted amnesty to the rebels. However, a smaller percentage of Cristero combatants took up the proposal.
In practice, the government agreed to desist from the application of the regulations that limited worship and moderated the reforms . The Church, for its part, agreed to annul the political opinions of the bishops , leaving the archbishop of Mexico as the only interlocutor with the authorities. This is how the so-called modus vivendi or “way of living” was built between both parties.