José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (September 15, 1830 – 2 July 1915) was the
President of MexicoThe Constitutional Citizen President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the head of government and the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country. The term
Porfiriato refers to the years when Díaz ruled Mexico.
Early years
Porfirio Díaz was born on September 15, 1830, in
Oaxaca, MexicoThe city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name . It is located in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín extending to the banks of the...
to an Indigenous mother and a
CriolloThe criollos were a social class in the caste system of the overseas colonies established by Spain in the 16th century, especially in Latin America, comprising the locally born people of pure Spanish ancestry....
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 JuárezBenito Pablo Juárez García was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
, 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
warThe Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico claimed ownership of Texas as a breakaway province and refused to recognize the secession and subsequent military victory by Texas in...
with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 AnnaAntonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, was a Mexican political leader who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government, first fighting against the independence from Spain, and then supporting...
. 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 ReformThe War of Reform was a Mexican civil war fought from December 1857 to January 1861. It began with a coup of generals representing conservative elites. They refused to recognize the reformist Constitution of 1857, and issued a decree overturning it, called the Plan de Tacubaya...
and the
struggle against the FrenchThe French intervention in Mexico, also known as the Maximilian Affair and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by the army of the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the British and Spanish...
. By the time of the
Battle of PueblaThe Battle of Puebla took place on May 5, 1862 near the city of Puebla during the French intervention in Mexico. The battle ended in a victory for the Mexican Army against the occupying French forces...
(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 ZaragozaIgnacio Zaragoza Seguín was a general in the Mexican Army, best known for unlikely defeat of invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 ....
, 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 MaximilianMaximilian I of Mexico was a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, during the Second Mexican Empire, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists on 10 April 1864...
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 BazaineFrançois Achille Bazaine was a French General and from 1864, a Marshal of France, "who suffered the fate of Generals who win every battle except the last". He was the first Marshal who had started as a legionnaire and like the great Marshals of the First Empire, he had risen from the ranks...
, commander of the Imperial forces, offered to surrender
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
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 attempted to lead a revolt against the reelection of Juarez. In March 1872 Díaz’s forces were defeated in the battle of La Bufa in
ZacatecasZacatecas is a city in Mexico, the capital of the state of Zacatecas. It was founded 1548, two years after the nearby discovery of silver, and became an officially-recognized city in 1584. Its population as of the 2005 census was 122,889. Zacatecas is also the municipal seat of the municipality...
. Following Juárez's death on July 9 of that year,
Sebastián Lerdo de TejadaSebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral was a jurist and Liberal president of Mexico.-Background:He was born in Jalapa, Veracruz, into a Criollo family...
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 wildly popular among the people of Mexico well after the defeat of the French and the death of Juárez in 1872.
In 1874 he was elected to Congress from
VeracruzVeracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave is one of the 31 states that constitute the United Mexican States. Veracruz is borderd by Tamaulipas to the north, the Gulf to the east, Tabasco to the southeast, Oaxaca and Chiapas to the south and Puebla, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosi to the west...
. That year Lerdo de Tejada's government faced civil and military unrest, and offered Díaz the position of ambassador to
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, which he refused. In 1875 Díaz traveled to
New OrleansNew Orleans is a major U.S. port and the largest city in the state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, the largest metro area in the state....
and
Brownsville, TexasBrownsville is a city in and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, United States. Brownsville is the 15th largest city in the state of Texas and the 129th largest in the United States. The population was 139,722 at the 2000 census...
to plan a rebellion, which was launched in Ojitlan, Oaxaca on January 10, 1876, as the "
Plan de TuxtepecThe Plan de Tuxtepec was a plan in Mexican history. It was drafted by Porfirio Díaz in 1876 and proclaimed on January 10 1876 in the Villa de Ojitlán municipality of San Lucas Ojitlán, Tuxtepec district, Oaxaca...
".
Díaz continued to be an outspoken citizen and led a second revolt against President Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada in 1876. In yet another failed attempt to gain true political power, Díaz fled to the United States of America. His fight, however, was far from over.
Several months later, in November 1876, Díaz returned to his home country and fought the
Battle of TecoacThe Battle of Tecoac was a battle that was fought at Tecoac in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala on November 16 1876, between the forces of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, then President of Mexico, and those of Porfirio Díaz. The battle was a victory for Díaz, who subsequently assumed the presidency...
, where he defeated the government forces once and for all. Finally, in May 1877, Díaz became the formally elected president of Mexico for the first time. His campaign of "no-reelection", 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 TejadaSebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral was a jurist and Liberal president of Mexico.-Background:He was born in Jalapa, Veracruz, into a Criollo family...
. 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 GonzálezFor the Peruvian political figure, see Manuel González Prada.For the Costa Rican writer "Magón", see Manuel González Zeledón.Manuel del Refugio González Flores was a Mexican military officer, politician, and, from 1880 to 1884, president of Mexico.-Early life and military career:González was born...
, 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 26 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 John A. Crow, Díaz “set out to establish a good strong pax 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 — “no 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 Creole 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 (police of the countryside) 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 MirandaNicolás Zúñiga y Miranda was a Mexican eccentric who was famous for being a perennial candidate in his country's presidential elections. Although he never managed to win a significant share of the votes, he considered himself to be the victor every time.Zúñiga y Miranda was born in Zacatecas into...
, who lost every election but always claimed fraud and considered himself to be the legitimately elected president of Mexico.
Economic development under Díaz
As Crow states, "It was the golden age of Mexican economics, 3.2 dollars per peso. Mexico was compared economically to First World countries 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.
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 CreelmanJames Creelman , was a reporter during the height of yellow journalism. He was born in Montreal, Canada, the son of a boiler inspector, Matthew Creelman, and homemaker, Martha Dunwoodie.-Career:...
of
Pearson's MagazinePearson's Magazine was an influential publication which first appeared in Britain in 1896. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contributors included Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, Maxim Gorky and H. G...
, 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 LeónNuevo León is a state located in northeastern Mexico. It borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León accounts for a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
,
Bernardo ReyesBernardo Reyes was a General in the army of Mexico under Porfirio Díaz. He served as governor of Nuevo León he helped in the modernization of that state.. While governor of Nuevo León, Reyes approved a workers compensation law. He was the father of the writer Alfonso Reyes, and grandfather of...
, 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
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, so that he was not in the country for the elections.
According to John A. 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, Diaz 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 RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.Over time the Revolution...
began. Díaz was forced from office and fled the country for France in 1911.
On July 2, 1915, after two marriages and three children, Díaz died in exile in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. 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 CanadaThe Royal Military College of Canada , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers. Located on Point Frederick, a 41-hectare peninsula in Kingston, Ontario, the college is a blend of...
in
Kingston, OntarioKingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, where Lake Ontario runs into the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands begin.Kingston is the county seat of Frontenac County...
.
Orders and decorations
List of notable foreign orders awarded to President Díaz:
Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. StephenThe Royal Hungarian Order of Saint StephenThe Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary, the royal Hungarian order, founded in 1764 by the empress Maria Theresa of Austria, consisted of the grand master , 20 knights grand cross, 30 knights commanders and 50 knights...
Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
First Class Condecoration of the Imperial Order of the Double DragonThe Imperial Order of the Double Dragon was an order awarded in the period of the Qing Dynasty.The Order was founded by Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 as an award for outstanding services to the Throne...
Grand Cross of the Legion of HonourThe Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
Honour SWORD OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE "Napoleon I"The Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and LazarusThe Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus is an order of chivalry awarded by the House of Savoy, the heads of which were formerly Kings of Italy...
Grand Cordon of the Order of the ChrysanthemumThe Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the collar of the Order was added on January 4, 1888...
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
First Class Condecoration with Grand Cordon of the Order of the Lion and the SunThe Order of the Lion and the Sun was instituted by Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar Dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials who had rendered distinguished services to Persia. In 1925, under the Pahlavi dynasty the Order continued as the Order of Homayoun with new insignia, though based on the...
Grand Cross of the Order of the Red EagleThe Order of the Red Eagle was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, or other achievements...
Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and SwordThe Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system, and it was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
Star of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky-History:The introduction of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was planned by Russian Emperor Peter I of Russia and was established in Russia by Catherine I of Russia on May 21, 1725 in memory of the deeds of Saint Alexander Nevsky in defending Russia against foreign invaders...
Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit
Knight of the Order of the SwordThe Order of the Sword is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I of Sweden on February 23, 1748, together with the Order of the Seraphim and the Order of the Polar Star....
Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
First Class of the Order of the LiberatorThe Order of the Liberator is the highest distinction of Venezuela and is appointed for services to the country, outstading merit and benefits made to the community. For Venezuelans the order ranks first from other orders, national and foreign....
In popular culture
Cinco de Mayo The main Mexican holiday is their Independence Day which occurs in September. Americans are more familiar with the
Cinco de MayoCinco de Mayo is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico...
. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the date of the
Battle of PueblaThe Battle of Puebla took place on May 5, 1862 near the city of Puebla during the French intervention in Mexico. The battle ended in a victory for the Mexican Army against the occupying French forces...
when a major victory was won against the French. 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 here in the United States due to habit.
- The film The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin
The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin, is a 1918 silent movie that stars Lon Chaney, Sr. The film contains a propagandist view of the First World War, showing the political greed of the German Kaiser Wilhelm, the resistance of some of his own soldiers, and fanciful prediction of the nature of the war's...
(1918) has Díaz played by Pedro Sose
- The film The Mad Empress (1939) has Díaz played by Earl Gunn
- The film Juarez
Juarez is a 1939 film with Paul Muni, Brian Aherne, Bette Davis, and John Garfield about the conflict between Maximilian I, a European political dupe who, according to the film, is installed as the puppet ruler of Mexico by the French, and Benito Juarez, the country's president.Though Paul Muni and...
(1939) has Díaz played by John GarfieldJohn Garfield was an American actor. Garfield was especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles...
- The film México de mis recuerdos (1944) has Díaz played by Antonio R. Frausto
- The film Sobre las olas
The waltz "Sobre las Olas" is Juventino Rosas's best known work. It "remains one of the most famous Latin American pieces worldwide," according to the "Latin America" article in The Oxford Companion to Music....
(1950) has Díaz by Antonio R. Frausto
- The film Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata! is a 1952 biographical film directed by Elia Kazan. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck, using as a guide Edgcomb Pinchon's book, 'Zapata the Unconquerable', a fact that is not credited in the titles of the film...
(1952) has Díaz by Fay Roope
- 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
Salvador Sánchez Narváez was a Mexican boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México.- Career :...
- Porfirio Díaz is one of the main characters of the Mexican soap opera El Vuelo del Aguila (1996) with Humberto Zurita
Humberto Zurita is a Mexican actor, director and producer.Zurita was born in Torreón, Coahuila, and is one of ten children in his family.He is best known as actor, director and producer of telenovelas...
as the young Díaz and Manuel OjedaManuel Salvador Ojeda Armenta is one of the most active actors of television and cinema in Mexico. He played the villain, Zolo, in the Hollywood film Romancing the Stone....
playing Díaz as President and Fabian Robles
- The film Zapata - El sueño del héroe (2004) has Díaz played by Justo Martínez
- Post-hardcore punk band At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s post-hardcore scene...
has a track titled "Porfirio Díaz" on their 1996 debut album Acrobatic TenementAcrobatic Tenement is the debut album from At the Drive-In, released in 1996. None of the album's tracks made it to the 2005 compilation album This Station Is Non-Operational, with the exception of "Initiation" appearing as a live BBC recording...
Quotations
- Díaz is usually credited with the saying, "¡Pobre México
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos!" (Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
!)
- 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 ride 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
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral was a jurist and Liberal president of Mexico.-Background:He was born in Jalapa, Veracruz, into a Criollo family...
: "¡Mátalos en caliente!" (Kill them right now).
Further reading
- 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.
- 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
Alan Knight is Professor of History of Latin America academy at the University of Oxford, England, where he is a Fellow at St. Antony's College and Director of the Latin American Centre...
. 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