The final straw for the coup was an attempt to reduce the military budget which was met by heavy resistance by military officers.[2] With the government being unable to pay wages to military officers, the army staged the coup to remove Arturo Araujo’s administration at 10 p.m. on 2 December 1931.[3]
The military officers established the Civic Directory as a provisional government whose members were: Colonel Osmín Aguirre y Salinas, Colonel Juan Vicente Vidal, Colonel Joaquín Valdés, Captain Manuel Urbina, Captain Visitación Antonio Pacheco, Lieutenant Joaquín Castro Canizales, Lieutenant Carlos Rodríguez, Sub-Lieutenant Julio Cañas, Sub-Lieutenant José Alonso Huezo, Sub-Lieutenant Miguel Hernández Saldaña, Sub-Lieutenant Héctor Montalvo, Sub-Lieutenant Juan Ramón Munés.