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| Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) |
Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) Porfirio Diaz was a Liberal,
Mexican general, president, politician, and dictator. He ruled Mexico for 35 years (1877-1911). When Mexico was in distress because of The
Reform War, Spain, France, and Britain had lent a helping hand but when debts were not paid they planned to invade Veracruz.
When the alliance fell apart Spain and Britain fled leaving France
troops behind to fight the battle.
Mexican forces defeated the France invasion; among the troops was young
general Porfirio Diaz, who led the cavalry unit. It made him famous and cemented his reputation.
When
Diaz lost his first election, he rebelled and with the support of the United
Sates and the Catholic Church he brought an army into Mexico City in 1876, removing
President Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and seized power in a dubious “election.” He then appointed himself president November
28, 1876.
In power,
his first goal was to establish peace throughout Mexico. His second goal was
outlined in his motto – "little of politics and plenty of
administration." He created an economic
boom allowing foreign investment to develop Mexico’s cast resources. Money flowed in from the United States and
Europe, and soon mines, plantations and factories were built and humming with
production.
Diaz
had suppressed the media and controlled the court system. He managed to
dissolve all local authorities and all aspects of federalism that once existed.
Not long after he became president, the leaders of Mexico were answering
directly to him. To secure power, he
engaged in various forms of co-optation and coercion. Although, cracks began appearing and the economy
went into a recession and when people began speaking out it was not tolerated.
In 1910,
Diaz stated that Mexico was ready for democracy and elections and that he would
retire and allow other candidates to compete for the presidency. Although when
he didn’t want to lose to Francisco Madero, who wanted to run because he felt
that the time for Diaz to step aside came, he re-elected himself. In the end a revolution broke out when Madero
would not let him gain power again and overruled him. When he had been defeated, he was allowed to go into exile and died in Paris on July 2, 1915.
Hello, Mr. Diaz! My name is Sun-Yat-Sen, and I am a Chinese revolutionary and first president of China! Now I greatly question your tactics to ruling Mexico. First of all, if anyone knows what it's like to have a failed attempt at a revolution, it's me. However I did not get my presidency through underhanded elections because of my initial failures. I continued to work on my revolutionary plans until they worked. Achieving something through deceit is not really achieving anything at all. Also, your approach for a dictatorship for Mexico may not have been the best one. I think that your thirst for power was much too great, and you need to think about what is right for your country, not right for yourself. On a side note though, that's an awesome mustache. You can keep the mustache. Your political philosophies however, might need to be trimmed if you know what i mean.
ReplyDeleteWell then my mustache is fantastic thank you, but I strongly disagree in my power Mexico flourished into a modern time and ruling myself president was only for the best of my people to keep the economic stability.
DeleteI am Alexander Kerensky, I care not whether you have or have not heard of me.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not you care, I am disappointed in the way that you ran the country when you did. You are nothing but a coward in my eyes. A child that was afraid of losing the power you managed to gain unfairly. At first, it seemed that you aimed to do good. But as what happens when someone becomes power hungry, you ultimately became a tyrant. Shame on you.
I am Pancho Villa!
ReplyDeleteThe lower class of Mexico have suffered for too long! The revolution I lead seeks to unseat you from power, and replace you with a man who cares about the peasant class of this country. Madero for pres!