Under an alleged agreement between them, a convention of Constitutionalist officers was to choose a provisional President, who should be ineligible as a candidate for the permanent presidency at the regular elections.
When Carranza assumed both of these positions, Villa declared his act a violation of their understanding and insisted upon his retirement.
Inasmuch as the convention was dominated by Villa, the "first chief" decided to ignore its election of a provisional President.
The struggle between the Conventionalists headed by Villa and the Constitutionalists under Carranza plunged Mexico into worse discord and misery than ever.

Indeed it became a sort of three-cornered contest.

The third party was Emiliano Zapata, an Indian bandit, nominally a supporter of Villa but actually favorable to neither of the rivals.

Operating near the capital, he plundered Conventionalists and Constitutionalists with equal impartiality, and as a diversion occasionally occupied the city itself.

These circumstances gave force to the saying that Mexico was a "land where peace breaks out once in a while!" Early in 1915 Carranza proceeded to issue a number of radical decrees that exasperated foreigners almost beyond endurance.