The Government: the Nature of Its Power, and the Objectives Pursued

Between 1920 and 1935 Generals Obregon and Calles, in one way or another, governed the country; they succeeded in resolving the problem of power, in establishing the rules of the political game in the form in which they have survived until the present day, and in creating the institutions needed for the growth of the modern state. They found themselves in difficulties on more than one occasion, and had to crush two serious military insurrections. They were obliged to ensure the goodwill of the United States at the price of important concessions, although their religious policy nearly destroyed everything else, for it provoked the great insurrection of the Cristeros. They triumphed, thanks to the control that they exercised within Mexico and to American support obtained from the outside.

To govern is to command. In what way is Mexico, a heterogeneous country, governable, and who exercises the imperium? The power of the state rested on the army and the labour unions within Mexico, and on American help outside Mexico. The army had been decisive in national politics since 1913; these Praetorians had only one weakness: they all expected to reach the presidency, and Obregon took advantage of this to eliminate them en masse.