Abstract

MENDEZ LARA, Francisco Iván. Interests in Dispute. Internal Struggles in the Obregonist Electoral Campaign, 1919-1920. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.165, pp.78-103.  Epub Feb 03, 2022. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v42i165.869.

The so-called Grupo Sonora came to power in Mexico in the spring of 1920. While the process that led to this development was complex, we know it was spearheaded by General Álvaro Obregón's presidential campaign, launched in mid-1919. A heterogeneous political network supported this caudillo as the opposition candidate who would face off against the official candidate the engineer Ignacio Bonillas, and General Pablo González Garza. Based on primary sources, this article shows that far from forming a united group, the Obregonists were plagued from the outset by confrontations and disputes over control of the campaign. On one side were the members of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party led by General Benjamin G. Hill, on the other, those who remained in Sonora where they opposed the Peleceans; including figures like Adolfo de la Huerta, Francisco R. Serrano, and General Plutarco Elías Calles, the latter a member of President Venustiano Carranza’s cabinet at that time. This article reconstructs Obregón’s first presidential campaign, seen through its internal transformation and consolidation and the creation of the first Electoral Director Center, which helped raise the general to the Presidency.

Keywords : Mexican Revolution; Grupo Sonora; Álvaro Obregón; political parties; elections.