Madero entered the capital as a triumph. Elections took place in October: Madero and José María Pino Suárez were elevated respectively to the presidency and vice-presidency of the Republic. That solution meant the victory of moderatism and was contested by the most radical elements of the revolution: Villa in the north and Zapata in the south continued the armed struggle. Zapata, in particular, raised the banner of peasant claims, summarizing them on November 28 in the Ayala Plan. The new conflict favored the recovery of the Conservatives: aided by the US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Victoriano Huerta, betrayed Madero, had him arrested and on the night of February 22, 1913 sent him to death together with Pino Suárez. Having assumed the presidency, Huerta restored a reactionary regime. Villa, Zapata and other revolutionaries, including the governor of the State of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza, and General Alvaro Obregón, reorganized their forces, which they called “constitutional”, and moved against Huerta. In 1914, in April, Marines Americans occupied Veracruz, citing incidents involving sailors from the US fleet anchored offshore as a pretext. The intervention was condemned by all of Latin America and exacerbated the rancor already existing between Mexico and the United States. The “constitutionalists” continued to fight against Huerta. Surrounded on all sides, on July 15, 1914 the dictator had to resign. A month later Carranza replaced him as president. But once again Villa and Zapata refused to lay down their arms, accusing Carranza of counter-revolutionary tendencies. Towards the end of 1915, Villa was defeated by the soldiers of Obregón, who had sided with Carranza. The daring guerrilla then took to disturbing actions along the border with the United States, with frequent trespassing. To eliminate these incursions, a North American expeditionary force, under the command of General Pershing, according to ehealthfacts, entered Mexico and pursued Villa; but he could not catch it. The US military presence lasted until 1917; and when the last US unit left the country’s soil, that is, on February 5 of that year, Carranza promulgated the Constitution of the Revolutionary Republic.
The document recognized human rights and democratic freedoms and guaranteed the secular nature of the state. Of particular importance is Article 27, which sanctioned the national ownership of the riches of the subsoil and specified the procedures for the long-awaited agrarian reform. Carranza was regularly elected president of the Republic on March 11, 1917. It seemed that the country had won peace and set out on the path of normality. Political movements began to settle down, workers gathered in free trade unions. In the South, however, Zapata continued to resist: the government soldiers were right in April 1919, when they ambushed him in Chinameca and killed him. Carranza was also treacherously assassinated on May 21, 1920. And on July 23, 1923, “Pancho” Villa suffered the same fate. Nor was Alvaro Obregón saved from the lead of assassins, shot to death in 1928 after having exercised the presidency of the Republic from 1920 to 1924. Tense and characterized by continuous jolts was also the mandate of Carranza was also treacherously assassinated on May 21, 1920. And on July 23, 1923, “Pancho” Villa suffered the same fate. Nor was Alvaro Obregón saved from the lead of assassins, shot to death in 1928 after having exercised the presidency of the Republic from 1920 to 1924. Tense and characterized by continuous jolts was also the mandate of Carranza was also treacherously assassinated on May 21, 1920. And on July 23, 1923, “Pancho” Villa suffered the same fate. Nor was Alvaro Obregón saved from the lead of assassins, shot to death in 1928 after having exercised the presidency of the Republic from 1920 to 1924. Tense and characterized by continuous jolts was also the mandate of Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-28), who had to face the revolt of conservative Catholics (called cristeros, that is partisans of Christ). Calles amended the Constitution, bringing the term of presidential office from four to six years. Replaced by Emilio Portes Gil, at the end of 1928 Calles announced the birth of a new party, the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), destined to be the coordinating tool of the regime. In reality, the revolution had been held back with the rise to power of the bourgeoisie and the middle class. It was up to President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-40) to give new progressive impulses, through the acceleration of agrarian reform and the nationalization of the oil industry (1938). Cárdenas also perfected the structure of the ruling party, changing its name to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), to attest to the end of the Revolution as a military enterprise and its political and social settlement.
