MODERN LATIN AMERICA: Mexico-The Taming of a Revolution1
MEXICO AFTER INDEPENDENCE2 3
 Left Mexico in disorder and decay
 Conditions much worse than in Argentina and Brazil
 Fighting had been much more widespread and protracted
Economics4
 Silver and gold mines
 Insurgents and royalists killed technicians
 Thousands of miners had gone off to fight
 Due to lack of supervision, mines flooded and machinery rendered useless
 Production plummeted to one-third of pre-war level
 Restored: foreign investment
 Textile industry lay in shambles
 Houses: roofless, broken walls and arches
 Agriculture: unattended, fields burnt
 Roads had been neglected and therefore, the country lacked workable system of
transportation and communication.
 Spaniards (rule for 300 years) built three highways
 Travel by stagecoach difficult; by saddle costly and slow
***SERIOUS OBSTACLE TO ECONOMIC INTEGRATION***
 Few jobs; much unemployment
 ~300 000 men (ex-fighters) had no job/income
 (represented 15 to 30 percent of male pop)
 social threat: angry and armed to fight
 State of employment, quick and easy
 Some veterans found work, while others turned to
 Crime: highway robbery being a favourite
 Army
 Drafted into unofficial, quasi-military units
 Provided support for local political bosses
 Known as caudillos
 Were soon to play dominant role in Mexican political scene
Social and Political
 Late 1820s, new government expelled all Spaniards from Mexico
 Allowed public to vent hatred for Spaniards
 Deprived economy of an important source of capital
 Eliminated leading segment in country’s upper class
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Pages 217-237
Smallcaps&Italic&Underlined headings = headings in the book
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Page 217-221
4
Italic headings = sub-units under book heading
2
1
 New upper class- Creole landowners (not Spain-born)
 Economic transformations (dating back to Bourbon era) & gradual recovery in 1830s
and 1840s, helped new groups acquire wealth and status
 Aspirants (located mainly in Mexico City) put on elaborate displays, however they
did not understand the rules of social propriety
 SUMMARY: Early nineteenth-century Mexico had two upper classes
 Old traditional families
 Kept to their own land
 New families
 Drawn to commerce and commerce-related professions as well as land
 Vast majority of population, especially in center and south
 Classic peasantry
 Large masses of country people earning meager amounts from land
 largely of Indian origin
 furnished labour from agricultural sector
 worked on haciendas (lived in virtual serfdom)
 begged in cities
 Unemployed peasantry guaranteed Mexico large surplus labour force
 Due to this, and anti-foreign sentiments, authorities did not want immigration
 Mexico never acquired predominately European working class
 Did not undergo raid population growth in nineteenth century
 Annual average population growth rate less than 1.2 % over a period of fifty years
Two institutional powers: church and military
Church
 Retained its immense wealth through the independence war
 Controlled nearly half of nation’s land
 Was largest banking operation in Mexico
 Earned regular income through real-estate, investments, loans to large landowners
 Importance of investments
 Guaranteed steady income
 Firm alliance with upper echelons
 Become target of opposition, particularly from those who did not benefit from
ecclesiastical largess
Military
 Dominated national politics
 During a forty-year period (1821-1860) thirty-five out of Mexico’s fifty separate
presidencies were army officers
N.B. Fifty presidents in ~40 years, each term of presidency ~ a year.
 Once they reached position of power, they discovered that the treasury was running
out (in large part due to military spending)
 Eventually, remember the caudillos?, broke up and new leader with new followers
seized power
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 Caudillos themselves did not bother with the art of governance, which was left to
lawyers and professionals (predominately from Mexico City), who staffed ministries
 600 separate cabinet appointments between 1820 and 1860, but went to only 207
individuals
 CAUDILLO politics entailed continuity as well as change
THE NORTH AMERICAN INVASION 221
 War of independence left Mexico weak and vulnerable
 United States (having “thrown off England” 50 years earlier) was moving westward
and southward, heading for vast, unpopulated land
 Spaniards did not have the resources to settle the north
 Huge territories of California
 entire Colorado River Valley
 Texas
 Since they did not have the resources to settle the north, they created network of
religious missions, manned by loyal Jesuits
 America wanted the lands and an American group of settlers moved into Texas, then
part of Mexico
 Under the rule of New Mexico, they revolted, declaring independence in 1822
 Santa Anna (president) sent troops to trample revolt, killing every Texan man, yet he
suffered defeat and Texas remained independent (1845 U.S. annexed Texas)
 Mexicans viewed annexation of Texas as act of war
 Disputes over financial claims continued to complicate U.S.-Mexican relations
 American pres. James K. Polk sent troops to disputed border area (Veracruz),
Mexicans viewed this act as an “invasion”
 Santa Anna resisted American troops but in 1847, he was defeated when American
troops walked straight into Mexico City from Veracruz
 Side note: ordinary Mexicans and young military cadets (remembered as “boy heroes of
Chapultepec”) fought the troops and chose death rather than surrendering
 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
 Brought formal end to war in February 1848
 By the treaty, the U.S. paid Mexico modest settlement of $15 million
 Took entire expanse of territory from Texas to California (half of Mexico’s
national domain)
 Difference in sentiments
 United States call the war “Mexican-American War”
 Are taught to remember the Alamo (settlers who originally entered Texas [?])
 Mexico call it “War of the North American Invasion”
 Tales of valiant struggle against overpowering odds
REFORM, MONARCHY, AND THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 5
 Military humiliation long-lasting impact on Mexico
 Nationalistic sentiment of hostility towards the U.S.
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 Political uncertainty
 Conservatives versus Liberals fighting over blame for loss
 Conservatives
 Lead by Lucás Alemán
 Maintained that Mexico weakened itself by trying to adapt values and
institutions of Americans
 Nation was required to return to Hispanic tradition
 Needed to promote aristocratic ideals, protect legal privileges of the
military and the church, and create a constitutional monarchy (perhaps
by importing European prince)
 Liberals
 Argued that Mexico needed to embrace modernization, not tradition
 Stand-off continued into the mid-1850s when President Santa Anna sought to
replenish treasury and his political fortunes
 Sold the Mesilla Valley for $10 million (today southern New Mexico and
Arizona) to the United States who wanted the land to build a new railway for the
newly claimed state of California
 This move was widely viewed as betrayal of national resolve
 Prompted opposition to mount
 Santa Anna was ousted in 1855
 Initiated tumultuous period known as THE REFORM (La Reforma)
 Liberal civilian-led governments enacted a series of reforms aimed at building
new social order
 Abolished the military and fueros which exempted soldiers and clerics from
having to stand trial in civil courts
 Prohibited ecclesiastical and civil institutions from owning property not directly
used in day-to-day operations
 Meant the Church could have its churches, monasteries and seminaries but
would have to auction off massive holdings
HOWEVER, note that this is not a social revolution as the lands were sold to the
wealthy and not the landless peons. This worked to the detriment of the poor, since it
required the sale of properties held by the communal landholdings of Indian villages.
 Transferred powers of registry from the church to the state
 All births, marriages, adoptions and deaths would be registered by civil
functionaries
 In 1857 most of these provisions found their way into a new constitution, a
liberal charter that granted Mexicans their first genuine bill of inalienable
rights.
 Conservative reaction resulted in the WAR OF THE REFORM (1858-61)
 The culmination of
 programmatic disputations
 church-state controversies
 minor civil wars
 Military campaigns and ideological disputes intensified
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 Under the “rule” of Benito Juárez (self-made lawyer of humble Indian origin), the
Liberal government-in-waiting issued a series of decrees
 Established births and marriages as civil ceremonies
 Nationalizing church assets and properties
 Limiting religious precessions in the streets
 FORMALLY SEPARATING THE CHURCH AND THE STATE *important*
 Juárez become formally elected president in 1861
 As the country declared bankruptcy, Juárez declared a two-year moratorium on
Mexico’s foreign debt, in the process of which earning the wrath of European
creditors
 France, under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III, commenced a five year war of
occupation (to expand territory and influence)
 Installed Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg as emperor of
Mexico
 Enacted Conservative prescription for national redemption
 Naïve, Maximilian toured provinces declaring freedom of press and proclaiming
broad amnesty for political prisoners
 Juárez resisted; civil war ensued
 Distracted by events occurring in Europe, Napoleon withdrew French troops from
Mexico
 Maximilian surrendered in May 1867 and was sentenced to be executed the
following month
 His death marked the end of monarchy for Mexico
 Liberals regained power, known as “restored Republic”
 Juárez attempted to set Mexico on the path of modernization
 Was re-elected for a third term in July 1867
 Promoted extensive economic and educational reforms
 Ran again for a fourth term in 1871, resulting in one of the hotly contested elections
of the nineteenth century
 Juárez won but one of his opponents, Porfirio Diáz declared that the indefinite
reelection posed a threat to the country’s principles and institutions
 The incident was quieted and Lerdo de Tejada succeeded to presidency after Juárez
died of a heart attack in 1872
 Lerdo’s term was constructive but problems arose when the president announced
plants to seek reelection in 1876
 Diáz revolted again in the name of effective suffrage and no-reelection
 Diáz occupied Mexico City in November 1876 in one decisive military encounter
and would do on to dominate the country for decades
THE DIÁZ ERA: PROGRESS AT A PRICE6
 Diáz proved himself to be a master at politics from 1876 to 1911
 Formed to broad coalition with military colleagues and followers
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 Gave regional caudillos rooms to maneuver, encouraging them to fight amongst
themselves
 As his presidency matured, began to build an army and depended largely on the
feared rural police to maintain control over the many Mexicans that lived in the
countryside
 SUMMARY: Built up power of federal government in strengthening police and
military power
 Although he was a liberal, he proved to be “a liberal with an edge” so to speak
 Cultivated neutrality in regards to the church
 Neither attacking it nor defending it
 However, he did stick to Liberal principles
 Banned corporate landholdings
 Opened new and vast areas to speculators, ranchers and political favourties
 1894: helped the landowners even more by decreeing that unused lands could be
taken over for private exploitation
 sought out prospective foreign investors (especially from U.S. and Britain)
and offered them generous concessions (so basically kissed their asses)
 Proved his command in politics by staying in power for a very long time
 Believed he was given Mexico political stability, which he saw as indispensable for
economic growth and if repression was required and so be it
 Had the constitution amended
 Economic Development
 Railroads
 First tried to build from public funds but in late 1880s was granting
concessions to foreigners
 In four years, track in operation grew from 750 miles to 3600 miles
 Reached a total of 12 000 miles by 1900
 Originally foreign built, most railroads were taken under control by 1907
 Foreign trade
 Rocketed by ninefold between 1887 and 1910
 U.S. become man trading partner
 Mineral exports of copper, zinc, silver, gold
 Modest industrialization
 Textiles
 Cement
 Iron
 Light consumer goods
 1895: federal government produced a budget surplus
 all budgets were balanced
 Economic activity varied from region to region, which lead to different social
structures
 North
 Mining and ranching
 Workers were hired laborers (miners and cowboys)
 Central Valley
 Agricultural
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 Wheat and grain
 Sugar (south-central region)
 Under Diáz, economic progress had its cost
 The wealthy prospered and copied the ways of European aristocracy
 The majority of Mexican faced poverty
 With the labour surplus, wage rates remained very low
 Mexico exported agricultural goods, while the diet of corn and beans could not
keep up with the growing population
 No improvement in the low per captia consumption level
 29% of male children died within their first year
 Children that survived worked twelve hours in sweatshops
 A quarter of the population was literate
 Unequal economic progress drew protests from urban and rural workers for
higher wages
 In the rural sector, workers were at risk of losing their land to commercial
cultivation of sugar and other market crops
 The North reacted in similar ways to loss of land for railway construction
 Diáz and advisors pursued consistent economic policy
 Decision making was centralized in Mexico City, at expense of local and regional
caudillos
 Those in political office were envied because economic gain depended largely on
contact with government
 Diáz: “We were harsh. Sometimes we were harsh to the point of cruelty. But it
was necessary then to the life and progress of the nation. If there was cruelty,
results have justified it . . . Education and industry have carried on the task begun
by the army.”
THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION7
 Mexico in 1910: disgruntled dissidents, frequently young, became angry enough to
attack the system.
 Francisco I. Madero
 Scion of a family made rich in cattle and mining
 Was linked to the Diáz political machine
 Evaristo Madero (Francisco’s grandfather)
 Had been governor of the state of Coahuila from 1880 to 1884
 Family had cultivated a bond with Diáz’ long-time finance minister José Y.
Limantour
 Received foreign education (commercial agriculture)
 Believed in liberal politics and economics, whereas Diáz only believed in liberal
economics
 Became strong political opponent
 Entered the 1910 campaign as a candidate of the Anti-Reelectionist Party
 Diáz won and jailed 5000 of the opposition, including Madero
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Pages 227-232
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 From jail, Francisco issued the famous Plan de San Luis Potosí and called for
armed resistance
 Rebel movements grew and took Ciudad Juárez
 Diáz left the country in May 1911
 Madreo’s election marked the road for democracy by starting the Mexican
Revolution, but not owning it
 Other rebel groups had different goals
 Emiliano Zapata, leader of landless peasants in the south-west or zapatistas, saw
the rebellion as a chance to restore justice and reclaim their lands
 Zapatistas disliked Madero, didn’t believe he could fully understand their plight
due to his background. Attacked Madero in November 1911 in their Plan de
Ayala
 Claims of Madero not being able to understand their plight were solidified as
Madero failed to help them regain their lands. They declared their own revolution.
 Madero was not fit to be a revolutionary figure and died at the hands of his own
military chief of staff (Victoriano Huerta), dragging the U.S. Ambassador Henry
Lane Wilson into the mix of things, insuring the role of U.S. involvement in
Mexican politics
 Huerta tried to impose authority over country but met resistance
 Pancho Villa had gained control in the state of Chihuahua and established small
army
 He, unlike Emiliano Zapata, did not led a peasant rebellion
 Supporters were small ranchers, unemployed workers and cowboys (wanting jobs,
not land)
 Pronounced agrarian reform in 1913 called for confiscation of large haciendas,
which the state administered, fuelling his rise his power
 Money was produced, and his army was well equipped and fed
 Huerta was also opposed by Venustiano Carranze (member of the elite like
Madero)
 The debate over whether or not Huerta was fit to hold power flung the country
into the middle of a blood civil war, the federal army swelled ten times its size
 Was overthrown by the United States, who refused to acknowledge his
government
 Resigned in June 1914, leaving the revolution up for grabs
 All the forces who had helped overthrow Huerta met to discuss a possible
coalition government
 Carranza, being suspicious of the Zapata and Villa forces, set up his own regime
in the eastern seaport of Veracruz
 Villa and Zapata: social change
 Carranza proclaimed agrarian reform, calling for restoration and creation of
agricultural communities, requested procedures for restoring legal titles and
establishing national agrarian commission.
 1915: moved towards labour
 Villa pressed forward towards a victory however he met his match and was
defeated, returned to hills of Chihuahua to engage in guerilla warfare but was no
longer a national threat.
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 May 1917: Carranza assumed presidency
 Imitated the Constitution of 1857, restating principle of classical liberalism
 Convention delegates took control and wrote charter which
 (27) empowered the government to redistribute land
 (123) announced rights for labour
 (3) subjected church to new restrictions
 1919: Carranza wanted to impose Ignacio Bonillas as his successor
 In wanting to select a successor, Carranze was violating the spirit of the
revolution and led the country into a bloody practice led by Obregón
 Carranza fled and was assassinated by one of his own guards
 Revolution unleashed great creative energy in literature and the arts, resulting in
many murals and pieces linked directly to the motif and impact of the revolution on
the Mexican people.
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE REVOLUTION8
 The country needed to be rebuilt after years of civil war but due to the impact of
World War I, Mexico’s export earnings decreased and deepened the
domestic/economic slump
 Obregón founded Confederacion Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM), harassing
communist- and anarchist-led unions
 Government launched ambitious rural education campaign under the leadership of
José Vasconcelos. He feared loss of production and was weary about land
distribution.
 The last original popular rebel was shot in 1923, ending the era of effective demands
for fundamental social reform for the moment
 Obregón had two main achievement
 Achieved understanding with Washington
 Transferred power peacefully to his successor, something that had not been
achieved since 1880
 Elías Calles, officer politician, put revolutionary political system on stable and sound
footing.
 Threat came from the cristeros, included folk who thought the revolution was the
work of the devil, to be stopped only by sword
 Calles’ presidential term expired in 1928 and Obregón presented himself yet again.
He won easily but was killed shortly after his win by a religious fanatic
 Calles got political leaders to agree on new election and new political union named
the Partido Nacional Revouiconário (PNR)
 1928-1934, during three short termed presidency, Calles remained in power behind
the scenes
 Calles was believed to have continued the role upon the election of Lázaro Cárenas in
1934, however actions proved that Cárenas was indeed his own man
 During his six year term, he
 Distributed 44 million acres of land to landless Mexicans
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 Acknowledged the dangers in simply distributing land and therefore depended on
the communal system of the ejido
(Advantage: neither capitalist nor socialist nation)
 Land was given to ejido (consisting of many families)
 Land distribution created an initial euphoria, over 800 000 recipients saw life-long
dream realized
 However agricultural production fell in many areas, as feared
 Social and financial services promised were not materialized in the volume
needed, despite many successes
 Result: low productivity and disorganization on communal units and insufficient
integration into the market many smaller units
 Cárenas gained popularity among peasants for his boldness, he reinforced the
agrarian character of the revolution
 Cárenas reorganized party structure
 Created official party and renamed it the PRM in 1938
 Built around four groups
 Agricultural (peasant) sector
 Labor sector
 Military sector
 Popular sector
 Residual category (primarily middle class)
 Borrowed from corporatism, the political doctrine of such countries like Italy,
Spain and Portugal
Frida Kahlo wife of famous Diego Rivera, member of Mexican Communist Party, artist
who used influences of religion, affirmed female sexuality and sensuality.9
 Worked on plan to deal with lower classes: mobilize and organize both the
workers and the peasants, but keep them separate from each other.
 The lead to the creation of separate and competitive sectors for each group within
the official party
 Permitted government to maintain control of popular movements and prevent the
appearance of a worker-peasant coalition
 In regards to Mexico’s relations with the U.S., Cárenas’ biggest issue was oil.
U.S. and British oil firms invested in Mexico’s oil reserves
 Wage dispute between workers and the U.S., went to court, workers won.
 Companies ignored rule of Supreme Court but Mexican government stepped in
and announced the expropriation of the companies, which provoked positive
response from the Mexican people, making Cárenas a hero for standing up against
the gringos
 Roosevelt = angry! Others in Washington = much more in control of tempers.
Mexican government says it will compensate companies who filed enormous
claims including the future value of all the oil in the ground, which they had
owned. Served in favour of the Mexican government.
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 Companies were paid
 Mexicans created state oil monopoly, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), which
remains to be a symbol of nationalism and of course a target of the United States
 U.S. oil people angry and enforced world boycott against all Mexican oil,
effectively obstructed development of PEMEX’s refining operations by getting it
blacklisted with all leading foreign equipment suppliers
 Reason for being nasty buggers: felt the need to put Mexico in its place so that
other Latin American countries would not “run wild” with national boldness and
rise up against Uncle Sam
 1920s to 1930s
 consolidation of Mexican’s post-revolutionary political regime
 complex hybrid
 regular elections but guaranteed show-in for one party
 Office-seekers were obliged to declare loyalty to revolutionary ideals
 When opposition arose, the regime would bring forth frequent response from
the critics into the system (offering a voice, a job, policy concession)
 In eliminating opposition, Mexican state managed to strengthen support
 These two features (however undemocratic) set the basis for the defining
features of the Mexican state
 Civilian control over the military
 And political stability
IN THE WAKE OF THE REVOLUTION, MEXICO DEVELOPD A “SOFT” AUTHORITATIANISM THAT
BORE LITTLE RESEMBLANCE TO THE BRUTAL MILITARY REGIMES THAT WOULD DOMINATE
THE SOUTHERN CONE FROM THE 1960S TO THE 1980S.
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