Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
Name	Porfirio Díaz
Nationality	Mexican
Order	29th
Office	President of Mexico
Term start1	November 28, 1876
Term end1	December 6, 1876
Predecessor1	José María Iglesias
Successor1	Juan N. Méndez
Term start2	February 17, 1877
Term end2	December 1, 1880
Predecessor2	Juan N. Méndez
Successor2	Manuel González
Term start3	December 1, 1884
Term end3	May 25, 1911
Predecessor3	Manuel González
Successor3	Francisco León de la Barra
Birth date	September 15, 1830
Birth place	Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Death date	July 02, 1915
Death place	Paris, France
Spouse	Delfina Ortega Carmen Romero Rubio
Party	Liberal
Vicepresident	Ramón Corral(1904–1911)

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (September 15, 1830 – July 2, 1915) was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N. Méndez as interim president, and a four-year term served by his political ally Manuel González from 1880 to 1884. Commonly considered by historians to have been a dictator, he is a controversial figure in Mexican history. The period of his leadership was marked by significant internal stability (known as the "paz porfiriana"), modernization, and economic growth. However, Díaz's conservative regime grew unpopular due to repression and political continuity, and he fell from power during the Mexican Revolution, after he had imprisoned his electoral rival and declared himself the winner of an eighth term in office. The years in which Díaz ruled Mexico are referred to as the Porfiriato.

Early years

Porfirio Díaz was born on September 15, 1830, in Oaxaca, Mexico, to an indigenous mother and a Criollo father. His father, José de la Cruz was a modest innkeeper and died when his son was just an infant.

Díaz began training for the priesthood at the age of fifteen when his mother, María Petrona Mori Cortés, sent him to the Seminario Conciliar. In 1850, inspired by Liberal Benito Juárez, Díaz entered the Instituto de Ciencias and spent some time studying law. Díaz’s life took an unexpected turn, however, when he decided to join the armed forces upon the outbreak of war with the United States in 1846. Having dabbled in many different professions, Díaz discovered his vocation in 1855 and joined a band of liberal guerrillas who were fighting a resurgent Antonio López de Santa Anna. Thus, his life as a military man began.

Life as a military man and path to the presidency

Díaz’s military career is most noted for his service in the War of the Reform and the struggle against the French. By the time of the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862), General Díaz had become the brigade general in charge of an infantry brigade.

During the Battle of Puebla, his brigade was placed in the center between the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. From there, he repelled a French infantry attack that was sent as a diversion to distract the Mexican commanders' attention from the forts that were the main target of the French army. In violation of the orders of General Ignacio Zaragoza, General Díaz and his unit fought off a larger French force and then chased after them. Despite Díaz’s inability to share control, General Zaragoza commended the actions of General Díaz during the battle as "brave and notable".

In 1863, Díaz was captured by the French Army. He escaped and was offered by President Benito Juárez the positions of secretary of defense or army commander in chief. He declined both but took an appointment as commander of the Central Army. That same year he was promoted to the position of Division General.

In 1864, the conservatives supporting Emperor Maximilian asked him to join the imperial cause. Díaz declined the offer. In 1865, he was captured by the Imperial forces in Oaxaca. He escaped and fought the battles of Tehuitzingo, Piaxtla, Tulcingo and Comitlipa.

In 1866, Díaz formally declared his loyalty to Juárez. That same year he earned victories in Nochixtlan, Miahuatlan, and La Carbonera, and once again captured Oaxaca. He was then promoted to general. Also in 1866, Marshal Bazaine, commander of the Imperial forces, offered to surrender Mexico City to Díaz if he withdrew support of Juárez. Díaz declined the offer. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian offered Díaz the command of the army and the imperial rendition to the liberal cause. Díaz refused both. Finally, on April 2, 1867, he went on to win the final battle for Puebla.

When Juárez became the president of Mexico in 1868 and began to restore peace, Díaz resigned his military command and went home to Oaxaca. However, it did not take long before the energetic Díaz became unhappy with the Juarez administration.

In 1871, Díaz led a revolt against the re-election of Juarez. In March 1872 Díaz’s forces were defeated in the battle of La Bufa in Zacatecas. Following Juárez's death on July 9 of that year, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada assumed the presidency and then offered amnesty to the rebels. Díaz accepted in October and "retired" to the Hacienda de la Candelaria in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. However, he remained very popular among the people of Mexico.

In 1874 he was elected to Congress from Veracruz. That year Lerdo de Tejada's government faced civil and military unrest, and offered Díaz the position of ambassador to Germany, which he refused. In 1875 Díaz traveled to New Orleans and Brownsville, Texas to plan a rebellion, which was launched in Ojitlan, Oaxaca on January 10, 1876, as the "Plan de Tuxtepec".

Díaz continued to be an outspoken citizen and led a second revolt against Lerdo de Tejada in 1876. This attempt also failed and Díaz fled to the United States of America. His fight, however, was far from over.

Several months later, in November 1876, Díaz returned to Mexico and fought the Battle of Tecoac, where he defeated the government forces once and for all (November 16). Finally, on May 12, 1877, Díaz was elected president of Mexico for the first time. His campaign of "no re-election", however, came to define his control over the state for more than thirty years.

The campaign of "no-reelection"

In 1870, Díaz ran as presidential candidate against President Juárez and Vice President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. In 1871 he made claims of fraud in the July elections won by Juárez, who was confirmed as president by the Congress in October. In response, Díaz launched the Plan de la Noria on November 8, supported by a number of rebellions across the nation.

After appointing himself president on November 28, 1876, he served only one term—having staunchly stood against Lerdo's reelection policy. During his first term in office, Díaz's son Raffah created a political machine that held immense power over the people of Mexico. He maintained control through manipulation of votes, but also through simple violence and assassination of his opponents, who consequently were few in number. His administration became famous for their suppression of civil society and public revolts. Instead of running for a second term, he handpicked his successor, Manuel González, one of his trustworthy companions. This sneaky side-step maneuver, however, did not mean that Díaz was stepping down from his powerful throne.

The four-year period that followed was marked by corruption and official incompetence, so that when Díaz stepped up in the election of 1884, he was welcomed by his people with open arms. More importantly, very few people remembered his "No Re-election" slogan that defined his previous campaign. During this period the Mexican underground political newspapers spread the new ironic slogan for the Porfirian times, based on the slogan "Sufragio Efectivo, No Reelección" and changed it to "Sufragio Efectivo No, Reelección”. In any case Díaz had the constitution amended, first to allow two terms in office, and then to remove all restrictions on re-election.

Political career

Having created a band of military brothers, Díaz went on to construct a broad coalition. He was a cunning politician and knew very well how to manipulate people to his advantage. A phrase used to describe the order of his rule was "Pan, o palo", "Bread or a beating,"(literally "Bread, or stick"), meaning that one could either accept what was given willingly (often a position of political power) or else face harsh consequences (often death). Either way, rising opposition to Díaz’s administration was immediately quelled.

Over the next twenty-six years as president, Díaz created a systematic and methodical regime with a staunch military mindset. His first goal was to establish peace throughout Mexico. According to the late UCLA Spanish professor John A. Crow, Díaz "set out to establish a good strong paz porfiriana, or Porfirian peace, of such scope and firmness that it would redeem the country in the eyes of the world for its sixty-five years of revolution and anarchy." His second goal was outlined in his motto — "little of politics and plenty of administration."

In reality he started a Mexican revolution; however, his fight for profits, control, and progress kept his people in a constant state of uncertainty. Díaz managed to dissolve all local authorities and aspects of federalism that once existed. Not long after he became president, the leaders of Mexico were answering directly to him. Those who held high positions of power, such as members of the legislature, were almost entirely his closest and most loyal friends. In his quest for even more political control, Díaz even suppressed the media and controlled the court system.

In order to secure his power, Díaz engaged in various forms of co-optation and coercion. He played his people like a board game — catering to the private desires of different interest groups and playing off one interest against another. In order to satisfy any competing forces, such as the Mestizos, he gave them political positions of power that they could not deny. He did the same thing with the elite Criollo society by not interfering with their wealth and haciendas. When it came to the Roman Catholic Church, Díaz proved to be a different kind of Liberal than those of the past. He neither assaulted the Church (like most liberals) nor protected the Church. As for the numerically dominant Indian population, they were almost entirely ignored. In giving different groups with potential power a taste of what they wanted, Díaz created the illusion of democracy and quelled almost all competing forces.

Díaz knew that it was crucial for him to wield power over the countryside, where the majority of Mexican citizens lived. Díaz depended on the guardias rurales (countryside police) to aid him in this matter. In essence, Díaz worked to enhance the control of the government in the places where it truly mattered — the military and the police.

From 1892 onwards, Díaz's perennial opponent was the eccentric Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda, who lost every election but always claimed fraud and considered himself to be the legitimately elected president of Mexico.

Economic development under Díaz

Crow states, "It was the golden age of Mexican economics, 3.2 dollars per peso. Mexico was compared economically to economic powers of the time such as France, England, and Germany. For some Mexicans, there was no money and the doors were thrown open to those who had." Also, economic progress varied drastically from region to region. The north was defined by mining and ranching while the central valley became the home of large-scale farms for wheat and grain and large industrial centers.

Because Díaz had created such an effective centralized government, he was able to concentrate decision-making and maintain control over the economic instability.

Collapse of the regime

On February 17, 1908, in an interview with the U.S. journalist James Creelman of Pearson's Magazine, Díaz stated that Mexico was ready for democracy and elections and that he would retire and allow other candidates to compete for the presidency. Without hesitation, several opposition and pro-government groups united to find suitable candidates who would represent them in the upcoming presidential elections. Many liberals formed clubs supporting the governor of Nuevo León, Bernardo Reyes, as a candidate for the presidency. Despite the fact that Reyes never formally announced his candidacy, Díaz continued to perceive him as a threat and sent him on a mission to Europe, so that he was not in the country for the elections.

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According to Crow, "A cautious but new breath entered the prostrate Mexican underground. Dark undercurrents rose to the top." As groups began to settle on their presidential candidate, Díaz decided that he was not going to retire but rather allow Francisco Madero, an aristocratic but democratically leaning reformer, to run against him. Although Madero, a landowner, was very similar to Díaz in his ideology, he hoped for other elites in Mexico to rule alongside the president. Ultimately, however, Díaz did not approve of Madero and had him jailed during the election in 1910. Notwithstanding what he had formerly said about democracy and change, sameness seemed to be the only reality.

Despite this, the election went ahead. Madero had gathered much popular support, but when the government announced the official results, Díaz was proclaimed to have been re-elected almost unanimously, with Madero gathering only a minuscule number of votes. This case of massive electoral fraud aroused widespread anger throughout the Mexican citizenry. Madero called for revolt against Díaz, and the Mexican Revolution began. Díaz was forced from office and fled the country for Spain on May 31, 1911.

On July 2, 1915, after two marriages and three children, Díaz died in exile in Paris. He is buried there in the Cimetière du Montparnasse.

In 1938, the 430-piece collection of arms of the late General Porfirio Díaz was donated to the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.

Orders and decorations

List of notable foreign orders awarded to President Díaz:

Country	Awards
Austria-Hungary	Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary>Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen
Belgium	Order of Leopold (Belgium)>Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
Qing Dynasty (China)	Order of the Double Dragon>First Class Condecoration of the Imperial Order of the Double Dragon
French Third Republic	France	Légion d'honneur
[[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)	Kingdom of Italy	Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus>Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Empire of Japan	Order of the Chrysanthemum>Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
Netherlands	Order of the Netherlands Lion>Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Qajar dynasty (Persia)	Order of the Lion and the Sun>First Class Condecoration with Grand Cordon of the Order of the Lion and the Sun
Kingdom of Prussia	Order of the Red Eagle>Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle
Kingdom of Portugal	Order of the Tower and Sword>Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword
Russian Empire	Order of St. Alexander Nevsky>Star of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
Spain	Order of Isabella the Catholic
[[Union between Sweden and Norway	Sweden	Order of the Sword>Knight of the Order of the Sword
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	United Kingdom	Order of the Bath>Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath
Venezuela	Order of the Liberator>First Class of the Order of the Liberator

In popular culture

The main Mexican holiday is their Independence Day which occurs on September 16. Americans are more familiar with the Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the date of the Battle of Puebla when a major victory was won against the French, and Díaz intervened in this battle. Under the Porfiorate for more than two decades the Mexican Consuls in this country gave Cinco de Mayo more importance than the Dia de la Independencia because it was when the President distinguished himself. It is still widely celebrated in the United States due to both cultural permeation and habit.

The film The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918) has Díaz played by Pedro Sose

The film The Mad Empress (1939) has Díaz played by Earl Gunn

The film Juarez (1939) has Díaz played by John Garfield

The film México de mis recuerdos (1944) has Díaz played by Antonio R. Frausto

The film Sobre las olas (1950) has Díaz by Antonio R. Frausto

The film ¡Viva Zapata! (1952) has Díaz by Fay Roope

The film Terra em Transe (1967) uses the character metaphorically. It is interpreted by the Brazilian actor Paulo Autran and the character is portrayed as a conservative president supported by revolutionary forces.

The Mexican soap opera La Constitución (1970) has Díaz played by Miguel Manzano

The Mexican soap opera El Carruaje (1972) has Díaz played by Salvador Sánchez

Porfirio Díaz is one of the main characters of the Mexican soap opera El Vuelo del Aguila (1994) with Humberto Zurita as the young Díaz and Manuel Ojeda playing Díaz as President and Fabian Robles as a child

The film Zapata - El sueño del héroe (2004) has Díaz played by Justo Martínez

Post-hardcore punk band At the Drive-In has a track titled "Porfirio Díaz" on their 1996 debut album Acrobatic Tenement

Quotations

Díaz is usually credited with the saying, "¡Pobre México! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos!" (Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!), although there is little evidence that Diaz made this remark. Even Díaz biographer Paul Garner has noted that when the saying is attributed to Diaz, no source is typically given.

Referring to his policy of coopting political opponents, Díaz reportedly said, "a dog with a bone neither barks nor bites" or "a dog with a bone in its mouth neither steals nor kills."

As he headed for exile in May 1911 following the revolt by Francisco Madero, Díaz reportedly remarked, "Madero has unleashed a tiger; let’s see if he can tame it."

Díaz's most infamous quote was the order to Veracruz's governor, Luis Raul Mier y Terán, about a group of followers of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada: "¡Mátalos en caliente!" (Kill them on the spot!).

Gallery

See also

History of Mexico

1884 in Mexico

Emiliano Zapata

References

“Porfirio Díaz”. The New Encyclopædia Britannica 15th Edition: 1993, p. 70

Further reading

Alec-Tweedie, Ethel. The Maker of Modern Mexico: Porfirio Diaz, John Lane Co., 1906.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. Life of Porfirio Díaz, The History Company Publisher, San Francisco, 1887.

Beals, Carleton. Porfirio Díaz, Dictator of Mexico, J.B. Lippincott & Company, Philadelphia, 1932.

Creelman, James. Diaz: Master of Mexico, D. Appleton and Company, 1911.

Cumberland, Charles C. Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1952.

Garner, Paul. Porfirio Díaz, Longman Publishing Group, White Plains, NY, 2001.

Gil, Carlos. The Age of Porfirio Díaz: Selected Readings, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1977.

Godoy, José Francisco. Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico, the Master Builder of a Great Commonwealth, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1910.

Hart, John Mason. Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989.

Knight, Alan. The Mexican Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.

Perry, Laurens Ballard. Juárez and Díaz: Machine Politics in Mexico, Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, IL, 1978.

Turner, John Kenneth. Mexico Barbaro, Ediciones Gernika, Mexico, 1997.

Villegas, Daniel Cosío. The United States Versus Porfirio Díaz, trans. by Nettie Lee Benson, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 1963.

External links

Historial Text Archive: Díaz, Porfirio (1830-1915)

The New Student's Reference Work/Diaz, Porfirio

Creelman's interview in Spanish

Creelman's interview in English

Category:1830 births Category:1915 deaths Category:People from Oaxaca, Oaxaca Category:19th-century Mexican people Category:Governors of Oaxaca Category:Mexican generals Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1867) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1871) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1872) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1876) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1884) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1888) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1892) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1896) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1900) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1904) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1910) Category:Mexican presidential candidates (1911) Category:Mexican people of Spanish descent Category:Mexican people of indigenous peoples descent Category:Mixtec people Category:People of the Mexican Revolution Category:Porfiriato Category:Presidents of Mexico Category:French intervention in Mexico Category:Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Category:Knights of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Military Merit (Spain) Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) Category:Recipients of the Order of the Double Dragon Category:Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Category:Recipients of the Order of the Chrysanthemum Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Lion and the Sun Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Eagle Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Tower and Sword Category:Order of St. Alexander Nevsky recipients Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Category:Knights of the Order of the Sword Category:Recipients of the Order of the Liberator

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