The Escobar Rebellion was a conflict in northern Mexico in 1929 during the Maximato, between the government forces of President Emilio Portes Gil and rebel forces under the command of General José Gonzalo Escobar. After some initial success in taking over several key cities in the northern half of the country, the Escobar rebels were decisively defeated in a major battle at Jiménez, Chihuahua, and were eventually swept aside by the advancing government forces under the command of General Calles.
Background
The Escobar Rebellion was the last in a series of rebellions following the end of the Mexican civil war in 1920, when the left wing faction of Plutarco Elías Calles, Álvaro Obregón and Adolfo de la Huerta (collectively known as "The Sonoran Triangle") took control of the federal government from Venustiano Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Following the assassination of President-elect Obregón on July 17, 1928, and the end of Calles' term as president on November 30, the former governor of Tamaulipas, Emilio Portes Gil, was selected unanimously to succeed Calles as provisional president until a new election could be held the following year, in November 1929. As a civilian with no military experience, the selection of Portes Gil upset many officers in the Mexican military, now largely composed of the armies of individual revolutionary leaders, who wanted one of their own in office to continue the tradition of having a general for president. Earlier, Venustiano Carranza had attempted to impose a civilian to succeed him in the 1920 elections, leading to his ouster and death.
At the time, one of the Mexican Army's most popular and wealthy officers was General Don José Gonzalo Escobar, who was described as "brave, young and dashing" for his role in defeating Pancho Villa in the 1919 battle for Ciudad Juárez and for later involvement in crushing the de la Huerta revolt of 1923 and the Gomez-Serrano revolt in 1927. Although Escobar at first proclaimed his loyalty to Calles and his successor, neither president trusted him and both considered Escobar to be high on their list of troublesome generals. As Escobar was assuring Calles and Portes Gil of his loyalty, in secret he made plans to take control of the federal government and establish himself as president.
Drafting the "Plan of Hermosillo" late in 1928, Escobar planned to launch his rebellion the following spring, citing corruption in the Calles-Portes Gil government as the reason for the revolt, which was called the "Renovating Revolution" by Escobar and his men. Portes Gil, like Escobar, knew that the success of any rebellion would largely be determined by supplies brought in from across the international border in the United States. Consequently, Portes Gil launched a "two-phase plan" to have the United States government seal the border to any potential rebel needs and also resupply the Mexican Army with war materiel, including modern combat aircraft. Both requests were granted in February 1929, just weeks before the opening of hostilities.
Rebellion
The rebellion officially began on March 3, 1929. Escobar maintained his guise as a loyal subject for as long as he could, having sent a letter to Portes Gil offering his services just hours before leading an attack on the city of Monterrey, in Nuevo Leon. Many Mexican Army officers defected to join Escobar's rebellion, often taking their entire command with them, so that by the opening of hostilities Escobar was in command of nearly 30,000 men, including a large contingent of Yaqui Indians. After a ten-hour battle Monterrey was under rebel control. Escobar remained in the city just as long as it took to remove $345,000 from local banks and to ransack the home of General Juan Andreu Almazán. From there Escobar retired by way of Saltillo, tearing up railroad tracks as he went. Portes Gil moved quickly to crush Escobar's rebellion by putting Calles in command of federal military and naval forces, which consisted of about 72% of Mexico's original ground forces, in addition to the air force and some 5,000 agrarians from San Luis Potosí.