The Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was brought on by, among other factors,
tremendous disagreement among the Mexican people over the dictatorship
of
President Porfirio Díaz,
who, all told, stayed in office for thirty one years. During that span,
power was concentrated in the hands of a select few; the people had no
power to express their opinions or select their public officials. Wealth
was likewise concentrated in the hands of the few, and injustice was
everywhere, in the cities and the countryside alike.
Portrait of Porfirio Diaz in Oaxaca's Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzman
© El Agora, 2007
Early in the 20th Century, a new generation of young leaders arose
who wanted to participate in the political life of their country, but
they were denied the opportunity by the officials who were already
entrenched in power and who were not about to give it up. This group of
young leaders believed that they could assume their proper role in
Mexican politics once President Díaz announced publicly that Mexico was
ready for democracy. Although the Mexican Constitution called for public
election and other institutions of democracy, Díaz and his supporters
used their political and economic resources to stay in power
indefinitely.
Francisco I. Madero
was one of the strongest believers that President Díaz should renounce
his power and not seek re-election. Together with other young reformers,
Madero created the ''Anti-reeleccionista'' Party, which he represented
in subsequent presidential elections. Between elections, Madero
travelled throughout the country, campaigning for his ideas.
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco I. Madero was a firm supporter of democracy and of making
government subject to the strict limits of the law, and the success of
Madero's movement made him a threat in the eyes of President Díaz.
Shortly before the elections of 1910, Madero was apprehended in
Monterrey and imprisoned in San Luis Potosí. Learning of Díaz's
re-election, Madero fled to the United States in October of 1910. In
exile, he issued the ''Plan of San Luis,'' a manifesto which declared
that the elections had been a fraud and that he would not recognize
Porfirio Díaz as the legitimate President of the Republic.
Instead, Madero make the daring move of declaring himself President
Pro-Temp until new elections could be held. Madero promised to return
all land which had been confiscated from the peasants, and he called for
universal voting rights and for a limit of one term for the president.
Madero's call for an uprising on November 20th, 1910, marked the
beginning of the Mexican Revolution.
Pancho Villa
On November 14th, in Cuchillo Parado in the state of
Chihuahua,
Toribio Ortega and a small group of followers took up arms. On the 18th
in Puebla, Diaz's authorities uncovered preparations for an uprising in
the home of the brothers Maximo and
Aquiles Serdán, who where made to pay with their lives. Back in Chihuahua, Madero was able to persuade
Pascual Orozco and
Francisco ("Pancho") Villa
to join the revolution. Though they had no military experience, Orozco
and Villa proved to be excellent strategists, and they earned the
allegiance of the people of northern Mexico, who were particularly
unhappy about the abusive ranchers and landlords who ran the North.
In March of 1911,
Emiliano Zapata
led the uprising of the peasants of Morelos to claim their rights over
local land and water. At the same time, armed revolt began in many other
parts of the country. The "Maderista" troops, and the national anger
which inspired them, defeated the army of Diaz within six months. The
decisive victory of the Mexican Revolution was the capture of Ciudad
Juarez, just across the river from El Paso, by Orozco and Villa.
Porfirio Diaz then resigned as President and fled to exile in France,
where he died in 1915.
With the collapse of the Díaz regime, the Mexican Congress elected
Francisco León de la Barra as President Pro-Temp and called for national
popular elections, which resulted in the victory of Francisco I. Madero
as President and José María Pino Suárez as Vice-President.
