José de León Toral was a Roman Catholic who assassinated General Álvaro Obregón, then-president elect of Mexico, in 1928. León Toral was born in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, into a family of Catholic miners. He moved to Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution and witnessed General Obregón closing churches and arresting priests who were suspected of supporting ex-President Victoriano Huerta. In 1920, he joined the National League for the Defense of Religious Freedom, which opposed the governments of Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles, and he reportedly was also involved in the Cristero movement. During the Calles administration, oppression against the Catholic Church greatly expanded in 1926 under the Calles Law, which provided for the execution of priests and other individuals who violated provisions of the 1917 Constitution. Wearing clerical garbin public outside church buildings was punishable by a fine of 500 pesos, then approximately US$250. A priest who criticized the government could be imprisoned for five years with no right to trial by jury. Some states enacted even more oppressive measures. Chihuahua enacted a law permitting only a single priest to serve all of the state's Catholics. To help enforce the law, Calles seized church property; expelled all foreign priests; and closed the monasteries, convents, and religious schools. Obregón had been more lenient to Catholics during his time in office, but the Cristeros and almost everyone else believed that Calles was merely his puppet leader. In 1927, two of León Toral's friends, Humberto and Miguel Pro, were executed after they had falsely been accused of plotting to assassinate Obregón. Incited by a Catholic nun, Concepción Acevedo de la Llata, also known as 'Madre Conchita' or Mother Conchita, he decided to assassinate Obregón, whom he blamed for the government's severities against Catholics. On 17 July 1928, two weeks after Obregón had been re-elected as president, León Toral, a sketch artist, entered La Bombilla restaurant in San Ángel, where a fete honoring Obregón was under way. Disguised as a caricaturist, he drew caricatures of Obregón, the orchestra director, and Aarón Sáenz, and showed them to Obregón, who told him the caricatures were well done and suggested that he should continue. When Obregón turned to sit down, León Toral drew a gun and shot him five or six times in the back, killing him instantly. León Toral was arrested immediately and pleaded guilty, claiming that he killed Obregón to facilitate the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. Mother Conchita was also arrested and received a 20-year prison sentence but was pardoned after serving 13 years; she eventually married Carlos Castro Balda, a bomber of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. León Toral was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in February 1929. His last words were ¡Viva Cristo Rey!, the battle cry of the Cristeros.
