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Ray Acosta |
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...is scheduled as the guest speaker for the 265th meeting of the Karl Hess Club, to convene on May 16, 2016. Ray Acosta on "The Cristero War."
One result of the Mexican Revolution was that a new Constitution was written in 1917 by the secular winners. This Constitution empowered the central government to control the Catholic Church. During the presidencies of Carranza and Obregón, no laws were passed to enforce these religious articles. That changed in late 1924 when Plutarco Elias Calles became president. Calles was an avowed atheist who believed the Church was a major cause of Mexico's problems. He asked Congress to pass legislation to restrict the Church. Catholics responded with political demonstrations that quickly escalated into violence. By the beginning of 1927, full scale warfare was raging throughout central Mexico. The Catholic rebels defeated the local police and the state militias, but they did not fare so well against the professional Federal Army, which had artillery and an air force. By 1929 it was clear that the Catholic rebels were not going to force the central government to change their mind and repeal the anti-Catholic laws. At the same time, the central government did not have the stomach or resources to crush the rebels. So the Church and the Government reached an accommodation where the laws remained in place, but they would not be enforced.
About Ray Acosta:
Ray Acosta has addressed the KHC several time on the Mexican Revolution and its relevance to U.S. history and current events, especially as it relates to libertarians. His Revolutionary Days: A Chronology of the Mexican Revolution is intended as a college textbook, yet is accessible to the general reader. Acosta has served in several Libertarian Party offices, including Chair of LPC Region 65, LPC s Secretary, and as scheduler for Art Olivier's 2000 LP vice presidential campaign. He credits his introduction to libertarianism to Karl Hess's article, "The Death of Politics." He is a native Californian of Mexican heritage. All four of his grandparents were forced to leave Mexico during the Revolution. He graduated from Cerritos Junior College, and received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the California State College in Los Angeles in 1970. He is now retired from a 30-year career in telecommunications engineering, planning, and finance for Pacific Bell and GTE. Revolutionary Days: A Chronology of the Mexican Revolution is his first book. |