| 1911-13 | Francisco Madero | family was one of the 5 richest in Mexico, owning vineyards, mines, cattle ranches and a bank; growing cotton, producing textiles, owning mines and rubber plantations. Madero was a spiritualist who believed that he could speak with the dead and thought he was particularly good as a medium for their written words. Spent a year studying at UC Berkeley and then administered one of the family haciendas very successfully and profitably; he gave the employees clean houses, high wages, and regular medical exams. After 1901 (Madero is 28), the spirit of his dead brother Raul convinces him to become a vegetarian, stop smoking, and destroy his wine cellars. (He tames his "lower nature," 1907, which probably means abstinence.) "To be of aid" is his mission. By 1905, he is considered a threat to the regime, which considers arresting him. When Diaz leaves office, 1911, paradox confronts Madero: be an autocrat, or let the people rule? (Arguably, central question of 20th-century Mexican politics: how to balance these? See also later connection to PRI's personalismo and 1968 and 1988 issues.) Madero believes that the people can work it out for themselves. Conservatives disagree, calling him "the deluded" and "the invisible" and his supporters "individuals without prestige." (They, in contrast, are "persons of social significance.")
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| 1913-14 | Victoriano Huerta | Unfortunately, General Huerta and interim president Francisco Leon de la Barra prefer the old ways and refuse to work with Madero, splitting him from radicals like Villa and Zapata, who are also angry because he is a 19th-century-style liberal who respects private property. By the time he takes office in November, he has almost no support. Madero legalizes unions and allows the right to strike (first time ever), originates idea of redistributing land to poor from rich, builds new highways, institutes direct universal voting. Military coup, backed by US ambassador, unseats and kills him, Feb. 1913.
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1914-20 |
Venustiano Carranza |
wealthy northern rancher with some Juarez-era democratic convictions but also a sense that weakness and lack of central power have prevented reform from happening before (eg Juarez, Madero), so decides he has to look like a leader (see picture) in order to be one. (A big reader of history, Carranza sees himself as a 19th-century strong leader who does what's right, not what people want, which means small changes rather than remaking entire social structure.) Not a revolutionary, so refuses to visit 1915 constitutional convention or resign until Villa and Zapata both resign their positions and leave the country and new regime figures out how to reform the country even before the constitution is finished. Does come to convention in 1917, but always more conservative than what results (eg Article 27: Carranza's vision is to repeat 1857 measures, which will redistribute a little land to a few people, whereas final measure says that "the Nation" owns it all and can do whatever it wants).
As the only candidate for president in 1917, wins nearly 98% of the vote. (Survey of every election, 1917-2012.) Grudgingly, at first, redistributes 300,000 acres
of land; his resistance to broader, faster changes builds opposition. Government forces assassinate Emiliano Zapata, 1919. This unrest is increased
by his support of Ignacio Bonillas, MIT-educated Mexican ambassador
to the US, for the next presidency; Bonillas has spent so little time in Mexico that
he is rumored not to even speak Spanish. More and more leaders begin to rebel against Carranza, whom they see as an autocrat trying to dictate his own successor and meddle in state affairs; in April, 1920, Calles and de la Huerta issue the Plan de Agua Prieta, repudiating Carranza, who is eventually killed
after fleeing from
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1920-24 |
Alvaro Obregón |
Wins nearly 96% of vote. Oversees Vasconcelos' program of
public art; attempts to institute mass rural schooling--over 1000 rural
schools built 1920-24, more than in previous 50 years, and nearly 2000
libraries; redistributes 3 million acres of land, which helps about
140,000 villagers--but one landowner, Luis Terrazas, still owns that
much himself. (Recall his name from the powerpoint.) Obregón
decides to balance workers and owners ("government must be the
pointer on the scale") rather than reforming the society too fast.
Major problem is compromise--how do you stay true to the goals of the revolution while also settling the country down after a decade of war? what about the US? It had intervened in 1914 and 1916 (and happily invaded all over Latin America in the 1901-33 period), and refused to recognize Obregón 1920-23. US Interior Secretary Albert Fall tries to get Mexico to repeal Article 27 in exchange for diplomatic recognition, which is actually unpopular around the border, where everyone gets back to doing business.
Fall is ensnared in the Teapot Dome scandal, allowing a new compromise: the Bucareli concessions, 1923, allow US companies to get compensation for losses during Revolution and since 1868, and do not apply Article 27 retroactively; this measure gets US recognition for Mexico but also marks Obregón as a "sellout" (entreguista). Pancho Villa, who has been convinced to retire to the countryside, may get involved in politics again. Before he can do anything, he is assassinated in 1923, under dubious circumstances. Around this time, Madero is resurrected as a "pure revolutionary" who disdained power for its own sake--"the prototype of the patriot." He is later compared to Christ as a martyr for the revolution.
The Bucareli concessions are one of several things provoking Adolfo de la Huerta, a Maderista and the Governor of Sonora, who had driven Carranza from office, served as interim president after his death, and negotiated the pacification of both Villa and the remaining Zapatistas, to rise up again. In December, 1923, De la Huerta issues the Plan de Veracruz, which charges Obregón with violating democracy by naming Calles as his successor, interfering with individual states, and possibly scheming to return to power after Calles' term as president. "Never before has there been so odious and so intolerable a violation of the sovereignty of the people," the Plan charges. He is joined by many supporters of the revolution, as well as conservatives, religious people, big landowners, and military (who are often responding to more local concerns), in what amounts to a new civil war in 1923-24. About 7000 people die before the uprising is put down with assistance from the US (which has just been assured that its property--mining and timber in the North, agricultural export firms on the coasts, oil companies, banking and manufacturing in Yucatan--will be protected), which embargoes arms to the rebels and passes along police and military-intelligence reports on rebel movements to the Mexican government. Land reform remains very much a work in progress: by 1923, less than 2% of the haciendas still control 60% of the land, and 110 of them own 20% of the land. In some states the haciendas occupy over 90% of all the privately owned land. Foreigners still own 20% of privately-owned land--32 million hectares, equal to the combined areas of the New England states, New York, and New Jersey. Americans own half of these lands, Spaniards 20% of them. Of the 3% of the Mexican population that owns land, two-thirds of the proprietors own less than five hectares each.
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1924-28 |
Plutarco Elías Calles |
1st peaceful transfer of power since 1884; Calles is elected with 84% of the vote. He redistributes 8 million acres of land and conducts first vaccination campaign in history of Mexico; US remains nervous about prospects of Mexico taking American citizens' oil and property (cf. Diaz's "poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States").
anti-clerical measures produce the Cristero Revolt |
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1928-34 |
Calles more or less appoints Obregón to succeed him, assuming Obregón will return the favor in 1934 (two candidates who oppose both are assassinated before election takes place), but O. is assassinated by Cristero activist, 1928 (there had been repeated attempts in 1927 and throughout early 1928 before this one succeeded in July) after winning the election but before he can take office; Calles is the power behind the throne until 1934. |
PRI's "personalist" (in Spanish, the system is called personalismo) politics start 1929. Power is handed off to anointed leader before the election, which is just a formality (recall Chasteen's description of politics under Porfirio Diaz and other neo-colonial leaders in other countries). Gov't moves right, letting go of land redistribution (some hacendados even buy their land back) and crushing left-wing labor unions (cf. Article 123 of 1917 Constitution). Calles becomes increasingly like a dictator over a decade in power--uses the army to crush his foes, or has opponents "commit suicide" while in jail; in first "election" under PRI, PRI candidate, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, wins, 1.95 M votes to 111,000, or 94% of the vote. After 2 years, Rubio learns from the newspaper that he has resigned. Officials steal from the government; one street in Cuernavaca is known as the "Street of the Forty Thieves" for all the rich ministers who live there. Some former Maderistas complain that, rather than fulfilling his ideals, the revolution has betrayed them because its elections are hardly free and democratic and the new reforms are not what Madero would have wanted.
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1934-40 |
Lázaro Cárdenas |
Calles assumes Cárdenas will be another puppet (he wins with 98% of the vote), but he isn't--cuts own salary in half, stays in own home instead of moving into presidental mansion, actually listens to the public (literally--installs direct telegraph line to his house); pushes gov't left, deports Calles to US, 1936; redistributes 49 million acres of land, mostly to ejidos (rural collectives)--2/3 of all land redistribution, 1917-40; at end of this process, most of Mexico's arable land has been redistributed, helping about 1/3 of population. Passes law barring individual landholdings of more than 100,000 acres. Anti-religious ("Man should not put his hope in the supernatural. Every moment spent on one's knees is a moment stolen from humanity"), and has socialist principles taught in elementary schools; rural education budget is 2x what it had ever been before (11.3 M pesos, about $3.2M US), but high population growth means # of illiterates up by 2M. But infant mortality rate in country drops from 222/1000 in 1920 to 125/1000 in 1940. He also hugely increases roads, devoting 26.6% of the budget to roads. Total road mileage increases from 884 in 1930 to 6156 in 1940, linking 11 of Mexico's 12 largest cities. After workers' strike, 1936, in which courts order oil companies doing business in Mexico to raise wages by 1/3, companies refuse to obey; so he nationalizes resources of 17 foreign (mostly US- and British-owned) oil companies, 1938 (a big deal: before the discovery of Middle-Eastern oil, Mexico was the world's #2 oil producer 1918-28). Read his speech justifying the expropriation (p.283). US companies want $200M in compensation, Cárdenas says $10M; US President Franklin Roosevelt sees Cárdenas as "one of the few Latin leaders who actually preaching and trying to practice democracy" and pushes for compromise. A commission agrees on $24M plus interest.
Conservatives distressed by the government's anti-religious policies and its left-wing tendencies form the PAN (National Action Party) in 1939, though the party does not win anything meaningful until 1989. It advocates pro-business policies, limited government intervention, and Roman Catholicism
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1940-52 |
Administrations of Manuel Avila Camacho (94% of vote), Miguel Alemán (78%) |
Rise of "technocracy": big business and cities, not farm
work or left-wing agitation, will create an "economic miracle" and push
Mexico forward; huge public works programs, such as National
University of Mexico, dedicated 1952—but has very few books on shelves;
many inequalities remain (c. 1/3 of children ages 6-14 are in school;
Mexico City population rises 50% 1952-58 [cf. Los
Olvidados]) |
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1958-64 |
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1964-70 |
Former Interior Minister (as is his successor, as was Calles--it's the traditional stop before becoming President), which means he is more or less openly in charge of repressing popular discontent; in 1964, also gives PRI head Carlos Madrazo the responsibility of "reforming" the party. When Madrazo actually does this--he "promptly advertised several shocking promises--open party primaries (rather than gubernatorially rigged rituals) to nominate candidates for municipal elections; university students in prominent party posts, to attract youth into the party; a Commission for Honor and Justice, to expel racketeers from the party"--Diaz Ordaz forces him to resign in 1965, and Madrazo, who continues to agitate for reform and is often blamed for the events of 1968, then dies in a suspicious plane crash in 1969.
Biggest controversy is just before 1968 Mexico
City Olympics, where shots
into mass of protesting students at plaza of Tlatelolco (once Aztec
marketplace) promote riot. Exact chain of events is disputed, but
there
seems to be evidence of police snipers firing from upper floors into
the crowd; gov't claims "terrorists" opened
fire on the police; army then quells
resulting riot with tanks, machine guns, tear gas, and armored cars;
gov't still refuses to reveal exact number
of dead, though estimates range from 8 (initial government claim)
to 35-45 (later government claim) to
400-500; at Olympics, US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos
give black-power salute on medal stand;
rioting around the world, including Paris, Tokyo, West Germany, Chicago;
in
US MLK and RFK assassinated; Soviets crush Czechoslovakian "Prague
Spring";
Octavio Paz resigns from his ambassadorship to India in
protest. Bracero program ends, 1964; first maquiladoras open, 1965.
A new story starts to coalesce. The old story was the struggle of peasants and workers against the rich and powerful in three stages: the 1810-21 independence struggle, La Reforma, and the revolution of 1910-20. Now "a new democratic nationalist ideology" starts to come together: popular pressure and protests lead to the dismantling of the PRI and a truly democratic process in which multiple parties compete for power.
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c. 1970-76 |
A confusing time: young intellectuals see themselves in a country where "The Revolution" is constantly celebrated (posters of Villa, Zapata; Avenida Francisco Madero), but student protests have been crushed and few of its achievements have come to fruition—in 1976 election, PRI candidate "wins" 100% of vote after PAN cannot agree on a candidate (this after 1970 election, in which 34% abstain, 25% of ballots annulled, 20% vote for opposition parties); Mexican economy back in debt to foreign nations, as imports outstrip exports--$3.5 B in 1975 alone. Leads to rise in malinchismo (cultural treason); note the historical resonances of the term. 1971 Corpus Christi massacre of students adds to PRI's dirty-war legacy. (Another protest, against police brutality in May 1973, is met by 10,000 armed riot police and soldiers.) By 1974, the president is again crushing left-wing magazines, imposing new controls over TV, and even banning students from marching; 63 Brazilian officers from the Higher School of War arrive in Mexico in June, 1974 to "exchange experiences with the Mexican army." (Brazil has had a military dictatorship since 1964 and will until 1985, so their mission is clear.) |
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1980s issues |
War on drugs;
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1988-94 |
Carlos Salinas de Gortari |
New-style leader—has PhD in Economics from Harvard; agrees to some political reforms, such as freeing access to press of opposition parties; definitively ends revolution: reopens relations with Vatican, 1992 (first time since 1862), allows church to own property again and operate religious schools, neoliberal economic policies make Mexico essentially a free market (busts unions for going on strike, abrogating Article 123), signs NAFTA, which takes effect 1/1/1994; ends redistribution by privatizing land; gets inflation under control, but also huge increase in corruption and favoritism. NAFTA is not universally approved: Zapatistas rise in revolt, led by Subcomandate Marcos (see also EZLN declaration). |
| 2000-2006 | Vicente Fox (PAN), first non-PRI president since 1929 | Fox waves
Virgin of Guadelupe during campaign (cf. |
| 2006-2012 | Felipe Calderón (PAN) | Another split electorate, and a very narrow win. The story here is of two Mexicos, writes Chris Hawley in the Arizona Republic: "One Mexico is based in industrial northern cities. It has a growing middle class that is grateful for the economic stability that has reigned in Mexico under President Vicente Fox. Its candidate is conservative Felipe Calderón, a former energy secretary who markets himself as 'the candidate of jobs.' "The other Mexico is poor and based in the south. It is fed up with wages that never seem to rise and a government that seems to abandon its elderly. Its candidate is López Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City. His slogan is 'For the good of all, the poor first of all.'" In what some perceived as a return to the bad old days of the PRI, one PAN candidate handed off power to another. Supporters of PRD candidate Andrés López Obrador refused to recognize the election's legitimacy. Calderón ran on the pro-business, pro-growth policies for which the PAN has become known. |
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2012- |
Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI) |
wins with 38% of the vote in a still-divided electorate, spurring protests from students and others who fear the return of classic PRI corruption. PRI argues that it "knows how to govern" and should be trusted to return Mexico to the right track. Promises to continue prosecution of cartels and opening of democratic process. The economy has continued to grow, but corruption and drugs remain a problem, most notoriously in the disappearance of 43 students in September, 2014 in Southern Mexico. Peña Nieto argues that Mexico must reverse the oil-nationalization policies of the 30s in search of competitiveness and opportunity.
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