Jose de Leon Toral (23 December 1900 – 9 February 1929) was a Mexican Catholic fanatic who assassinated President-elect Alvaro Obregon in 1928.
Biography[]
Jose de Leon Toral was born in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi, Mexico in 1900 into a family of Catholic miners. He moved to Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution and witnessed general Alvaro Obregon closing churches and arresting priests who were suspected of supporting former president Victoriano Huerta. He became a member of the Cristeros, and, in 1927, two of his friends were executed for attempting to assassinate Obregon, who controlled President Plutarco Elias Calles. On 17 July 1928, two weeks after Obregon was re-elected president, Leon Toral posed as a caricaturist at a banquet designed to honor General Obregon, and he was able to meet Obregon in order to present him with a caricature. As Obregon turned around to sit down, Leon Toral shot him six times in the back, killing him instantly. Leon Toral was executed by firing squad on 9 February 1929, with his last words being "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" ("Long Live Christ the King!", the battle cry of the Cristeros.