Porfirio Díaz

Porfirio Díaz

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (born September 15, 1830 in Oaxaca , † July 2, 1915 in Paris ) was a Mexican general and politician . He ruled as President from 1876/77 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911. He was President of Mexico for nine terms.

His reign, also referred to as Porfiriat , which is characterized by an authoritarian style of government, but also by the economic rise of the country, is still controversial today.

The first years

Porfirio Díaz was born on September 15, 1830 in Oaxaca, today Oaxaca de Juárez , the capital of the state of Mexico of the same name, as the son of a craftsman and inn owner. Díaz was of Creole - Mixtec descent, i.e. a mestizo - according to the system of castes (" castas "), a "cuarterón de mestizo".

Petrona Mori Cortés, mother of Díaz

Marcos Pérez, friend and sponsor of Díaz

His father José Faustino (de la Cruz) Díaz Bohorques died when Porfirio was three years old. His mother Petrona Mori Cortés, daughter of an Asturian and an indigenous , tried in vain to keep the father's inn, the only one in Oaxaca.

Porfirio and his siblings had to help support the family from an early age. At the age of eleven he became a carpenter's apprentice. At the age of 13 he attended the episcopal seminary in his hometown at the request of his uncle, who later became the bishop of Oaxaca.

In 1846, after the beginning of the war between the United States and Mexico , he joined a battalion of volunteers to fight the invaders, but also because he felt a greater inclination to military service than to the priesthood, which he wanted to do should have devoted to his relatives.

In 1850 he moved to the Institute of Sciences and Arts and finally gave up the priestly career. In 1853 Díaz entered the service of the liberal lawyer Marcos Pérez, a friend of Benito Juárez , who had introduced them to each other.

Military career

Under the influence of Pérez, who conspired against the government of Santa Anna in Oaxaca , the young lawyer decided to join the revolutionary current that had emerged in Ayutla under the leadership of General Juan Álvarez.

His first combat mission took place in 1855 in the Teotongo pass, which he defended together with 200 poorly armed Indians. His previous deployment served to secure Oaxaca and was not associated with any military action worth mentioning.

In December 1856, Benito Juárez , governor of Oaxaca , conferred Díaz his first military rank as captain of the infantry of the National Guard.

In 1858, during the Reform War, he took part in the siege and capture of Oaxaca. He served as the commandant of the Santa Caterina Fortress. For his tenacious efforts, he became military commander and governor of the Tehuantepec administrative district and was also promoted to major in the infantry. In 1859, Juárez sent him from Veracruz to be appointed lieutenant colonel in the Oaxaca National Guard as thanks for his streak of victories.

In 1860 Díaz was promoted to colonel. The reason was his victory at Ixtepeji in the Sierra north of Oaxaca. In 1861 he became a Brigadier General for his military operations in Jalatlaco in August. He then continued his campaigns against the well-trained troops of the conservative generals Leonardo Márquez and Tomás Mejía .

During the French intervention , Díaz took part in the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862). In 1863 he was captured by French troops, but managed to escape. Juárez offered him the post of Defense Minister, Commander in Chief and Governor of Veracruz . Díaz declined all offers, but accepted the appointment as commander in chief in mid-1863. In the same year he became a division general.

In 1864 the Conservatives offered him to commit himself to the emperor's cause , but Díaz refused. In 1865 he was captured by imperial troops, but escaped again. In 1866 he was promoted to general.

Political career

Díaz becomes president

Díaz ran twice in the elections for the presidency (1867 and 1871), but was defeated by Benito Juárez and in the following election by Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada . Díaz also represented the interests of the military who were disappointed by Juárez's anti-military and centralist policies, as well as the interests of young liberals who demanded compliance with the constitution.

Of the 90,000 soldiers who took part in the capture of Querétaro and the capital, President Benito Juárez only retained an army of around 20,000 on July 23, 1867 . The remainder could not be paid their wages due to lack of money , although the government had made a lot of income by dissolving the church property. This led to discontent in the army. The soldiers demanded that everyone share in the fruits of the war. Díaz knew how to benefit from the unpopularity of Juárez, and so a new political direction emerged, that of the "porfiristas", at whose head Díaz opposed the government of Juárez. In addition to financial policy - 70 percent of the budget was used for military expenditure - Juárez's decision was actually also due to reasons of power politics: In order to secure his position and peace, he had to strengthen the central power, disempower the local military leaders, and abolish the military sovereignty of the state governments (August 1867) and reorganize the army under the leadership of the central authority so that the five new military sectors were led by officers loyal to the government. The day after Juárez's triumphant entry into Mexico City on June 5, 1867, Díaz had asked for his discharge from the army, and although he only stayed a few months longer at Juárez's request, he received letters of thanks from many civil and military Public officials for his services, which made him even more popular. When the army administration was reorganized, Díaz was in charge of the eastern sector. This appointment was part of Juarez's strategy to retain military leaders through honors and new offices.

Even in the run-up to the elections of 1867, Juárez made himself further unpopular with his constitutional reform, which provided for a popular election of the president, the supreme court and the deputies. At the same time, a new chamber, the Senate, was created, which exercised the previous state rights, appointed the state governors and was supposed to act as a constitutional court in organ disputes. With this, Juárez created a counterweight to the stubborn congressmen who wanted to influence the federal government through state politics. Even more drastic was the introduction of a presidential suspensive veto modeled on the USA. Government officials were given the opportunity to become MPs. The greatest resistance of the liberals, however, challenged that Juárez gave the clergy back civil rights, including the right to vote, because he knew that only the church had popular support. In addition, collaborators were pardoned and opponents of the regime were recalled from exile. The reform policy of Juarez thus led to a rare alliance of liberals and conservatives against the government, which Díaz knew how to use for himself.

In December 1867 Juárez won the elections, despite the reform disputes, by a long way ahead of Díaz, but not with an absolute majority.

Juárez largely respected the constitution, but had to repeal rights several times and rule with extraordinary powers. His unconstitutional decision to run again for the next presidential election sparked resentment among liberals. Nevertheless, the elections of June 25, 1871 also showed a clear victory for Juárez, but none of the candidates had an absolute majority. When Congress declared Juarez the winner, and the MPs were heavily influenced, some generals began violent resistance. Díaz first waited in Oaxaca. It was not until November 8, 1871 that he declared the “Plan of La Noria”, which marked the beginning of the Porfirist uprising. The document criticized Juárez for the unlimited re-election, but above all for the massive influence on the constitutional organs and the state governments. Díaz also proposed a constitutional reform based on the principle of “less government and more freedom”. The uprising of Díaz initially did not find much response. With the unexpected death of Juárez on July 18, 1872, the program and the resistance initially seemed to have lost all sense.

The previous Vice President Lerdo took over the presidency in accordance with the constitution until the new elections. He pardoned all insurgents and dismissed the military from service. Díaz retired to Oaxaca. Lerdo set the new elections for October 1872. He won the elections well ahead of Díaz (10502 to 680), but the electoral fraud appeared blatant, since this majority had apparently been created to avoid confirmation by Congress (in the absence of an absolute majority). Lerdo made himself unpopular by ending the policy of reconciliation with the church, and manipulating the governor's posts, judgeships and the election of deputies (1873 and 1875). Its unpopularity led to an alliance of conservatives, liberals and peasants for armed insurrection.

In 1875 the "Cristeros" revolted for a new "Catholic" republic. In 1876 there was the “dreamed revolution” (Revolución Soñada) of the liberals - a programmatic resistance against Lerdo's undemocratic government. A military leader had to be found. General Sarmiento rose on January 10, 1876 and had the "Plan of Tuxtepec" drawn up (January 15, 1876) based on the drafts of the Soñada Revolución in Ojitlán, Oaxaca. The main aim of the plan was to prevent the re-election of Lerdo and the state governors. Díaz was proposed as provisional president and leader of the renovation army to restore the 1857 constitution. Díaz assumed the leadership role on March 21, 1876, but with the terms of the "Reformas de Palo Blanco" (Reformas de Palo Blanco) that José María Iglesias , the President of the Supreme Court, should be interim president. In doing so, he tied an opponent of Lerdo to himself and prevented his candidacy for the office of president. Therefore, Iglesias rejected the suggestion of the "Plan of Tuxtepec".

Many local uprisings followed the Díaz uprising. However, after Lerdo had narrowly won the election, accusing him of election fraud , Iglesias declared the president Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada illegal and appointed himself on October 31, 1876 as interim president. Iglesias relied on Querétaro and Guanajuato, where he resided. He announced his candidacy.

Díaz and Limantour had gone to New Orleans in January to contact the American Freemasons. The American government should be favorably voted and provide financial aid. With this help, the uprisings intensified in the north of the country. Díaz managed in a short time to bring the entire north under his control. He went back to the USA to raise more funds. When he arrived in Tampico on June 21, 1876, he managed to escape Lerdo's agents only by jumping into the sea. On July 7, 1876, he reached Oaxaca and formed an army of 2,500 men with whom he marched towards Puebla on July 10.

Díaz defeated Lerdo's troops in Tecoac , Tlaxcala on November 16, 1876 with the fortunate help of General Manuel González . On November 21, 1876 Lerdo left Mexico City for the USA. On November 23, 1876, Díaz moved into Mexico City and offered Iglesias to participate in the Tuxtepec plan. After a few days, he handed over the presidency to Juan Nepomuceno Méndez to march against the troops of José María Iglesias, who continued to regard himself as the legitimate interim president. Iglesias avoided the military conflict and settled on December 21. accepted Díaz's offer to go into exile in the USA in January 1877.

On April 2, 1877, Díaz was appointed president after the new election advertised by Juan Méndez, which he won by a large margin over his opponents (11475 against 482 votes), which office he held from May 5, initially until 1880.

His first term in office was politically unstable, as the ministers changed frequently. None of the 22 officials was in office until 1880. After an interlude by the weak President Manuel González , he took up the second presidency in 1884, which he did not resign until 1911.

In the second term of office (1884–1888) his employees were a little more persistent. Little by little, members of the younger generation, the so-called "scientists", supporters of positivism, were incorporated . Díaz was a Freemason and Grand Master of the Gran Dieta .

Further swearing-in of Díaz as President took place on December 1, 1888, December 1, 1892, December 1, 1896, December 1, 1900, December 1, 1904 and December 1, 1910.

The group of Porfirists created an order under their “gran caudillo ” (great leader) in which uprisings were forcibly suppressed. In this way, Díaz ensured duration of his rule and continuity to his goals.

The real estate reorganization

Díaz's rule was marked by great hardship against the rural Indian population. He relied on the army, the latifundia owners and a powerful rural police, which he had set up. This also enabled him to contain the widespread unrest among the rural population, which promoted the country's economic boom.

After large estates had come into the possession of foreign and Mexican landowners in 1856 and 1859 after the expropriation of the church, the "Colonization Act", the "Fallow Land Act" (1883) and the "Marketing Act" (1881) created the basis Expropriation of the indigenous population. In 1910 50 percent of the national territory belonged to 11,000 large landowners . 90 percent of the rural population had no real estate of their own , which is why the farmers had to hire themselves out as farm workers. In doing so, they easily fell into debt bondage , which could hardly be distinguished from real slavery . These relationships were processed literarily in the Caoba cycle by B. Traven . In addition, between 1876 and 1912, municipal pastures in the order of about 1340 km² were lost.

The system of rule

The rule of Díaz was mainly based on the establishment of an unquestionable authority that did not hesitate to use repression to secure obedience. Under these circumstances, the military became the mainstay of the state.

Alongside this main pillar, the regime relied on large landowners , industrialists , merchants and bankers .

The reign of Díaz was also characterized by the strengthening of central power. The state governors were dependent on him.

The economic policy

Díaz's economic policy encouraged foreign investment . This resulted in a concentration of banking , industry , oil production , railways , electricity generation and mining in the hands of mostly European investors .

The end of the Porfiriat

Díaz's repressive style of rule was an important reason for the Mexican Revolution under the leadership of Francisco Madero , which finally forced the president to resign and leave the country on May 25, 1911. He fled into exile in Paris, where he died in 1915. He was buried on the Cimetière Montparnasse .

literature

in order of appearance

• Ethel Alec-Tweedie: Porfirio Diaz. The creator of today's Mexico . Behr's, Berlin 1906.
• Daniel Cosío Villegas (ed.): Historia moderna de México . Daniel Cosío Villegas: Historia moderna de México . Hermes, Buenos Aires
  • Vol. 4: El Porfiriato. La vida social , 1957.
  • Vol. 5 and 6: El Porfiriato. La vida política exterior , 1960 (vol. 5) and 1963 (vol. 6).
  • Vol. 7: El Porfiriato. La vida económica , 1965.
  • Vol. 8 and 8: El Porfiriato. La vida política interior , 1970 (vol. 8) and 1972 (vol. 9).
• Enrique Krauze: Porfirio Díaz. Místico de la autoridad . Fondo de Cultura Economica (FCE), Mexico City 1987. ISBN 968-16-2286-3 .
• Paul Garner: Porfirio Díaz . Longman, Harlow 2001, ISBN 0-582-29267-0 .
• John Ross: Mexico. History - society - culture. Unrast, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-89771-018-8 .
• Roberto Mares: Porfirio Díaz. Grupo Editorial Tomo, Mexico City, 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 970-666-703-2 .
• Friedrich Katz , Claudio Lomnitz: El Porfiriato y la Revolución en la historia de México. Una conversación . Ediciones Era, Mexico City 2011, ISBN 978-607-445-057-6 .

Web links

Commons : Porfirio Díaz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Porfirio Diaz in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Newspaper article about Porfirio Díaz in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Robert A. Minder: Freemasons-Politicians-Lexicon. From Salvador Allende to Saad Zaghlul Pascha. Studienverl., Innsbruck 2004, ISBN 3-7065-1909-7 , p. ??.
2. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurer Lexikon. 5. revised and exp. New edition the edition from 1932, Herbig, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7766-2478-6 , pp. ??.
3. ^ Renuncia del General Porfirio Díaz, Distrito Federal, May 25, 1911

predecessor	Office	successor
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada Juan N. Méndez Manuel González	President of Mexico 1876–1876 1877–1880 1884–1911	Juan N. Méndez Manuel González Francisco León de la Barra