1929: José de León Toral, assassin of Álvaro Obregón
Add comment February 9th, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 1929, a Catholic militant who had gunned down the president of Mexico was shot for his trouble.
In the midst of the dirty Cristero War pitting Catholics against a secular, development-minded state, adroit former president Alvaro Obregon had just won election to a new term.
On July 17, 1928, as the president-elect banqueted in Mexico City, starving artist and father of three Jose de Leon Toral (English Wikipedia entry | Spanish) gained admittance as an itinerant caricaturist … then shot dead his putative subject square in the face.
En route to his inevitable Calvary, which he met like Father Miguel Pro with the insurgents’ cry of “Viva Cristo Rey!”, Toral had occasion to stand in a sensational trial where he described to a live radio audience his tortures at the hands of the police. (There’s an illustration at this Spanish-language biography.)
And of course, he’s got his own corrido.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1944: Col. Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, for the plot to kill Hitler
- 1900: En Hai, the murderer of von Ketteler
- 1962: Georges Kageorgis, assassin
Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Artists, Assassins, Capital Punishment, Cycle of Violence, Death Penalty, Execution, History, Mexico, Murder, Notable for their Victims, Public Executions, Shot, Wartime Executions
Tags: 1920s, 1929, alvaro obregon, catholicism, corrido, cristero war, cristeros, february 9, jose de leon toral, mexico city, miguel pro
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