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Liberalism and Juarez

Liberalism and Juarez. Mexico is a mess: exhausted, humiliated, half of its territory lost (gold rush starts) Apaches attacking in north, Mayas rebelling in Yucatan; chaos in central Mexico, social inequalities deepen

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Liberalism and Juarez

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  1. Liberalism and Juarez • Mexico is a mess: exhausted, humiliated, half of its territory lost (gold rush starts) • Apaches attacking in north, Mayas rebelling in Yucatan; chaos in central Mexico, social inequalities deepen • KEY problem: creoles don’t invest in commerce and industry, but leave it to foreign owned mines and investors. • 1855-1876: Liberals rise to power: BenitoJuarez and others promote reforms: trade, free elections, free public educ., sep. of church and state, federalist republic • Ley Juarez: removes military and clergy exemptions • Ley Lerdo: church and state divest properties • Indians lose their voice and rich estates grow larger • Ley Iglesias: church can’t set fees • Reform War: 1858-61: Church and wealthy are angry

  2. Mexican American War • 1836-1845: Texas is independent • (Mexico is busy fighting French invasion,bubonic plague, Yucatan bid for independence) • President Tyler introduces join resolution for annexation of Texas, which claims that its border extends to Rio Grande and Colorado (Map of territory lost to US) • Mexicans reject negotiations, threaten rebellion • Zachary Taylor goes into Mexico, provokes response, claims Mexican invasion WAR • Mexico is routed all the way to “the halls of Montezuma”

  3. The French Intervention • Juarez puts moratorium on repayment of European debts incurred previously • 1862: French, Brits and Spain decide to occupy Veracruz custom house to divert receipts • France, under Napoleon III, however, has other ideas, marches toward the interior “Cinco de Mayo” and Porfirio Diaz • French resume march one year later, aided by aristocratic conservative creoles. • 1864-67: Arch conservatives endorse Austrian archduke Maximilian (Hapsburg) and Carlota, who turn out to be young 19th C. Romantics • Outlawed dept peonage and redistributed land • But nobody is happy with them: Max is eventually shot despite pleas for clemency

  4. The Juarez (and Lerdo) Period:1867-1876 • Different factions were more or less happy • Hacendados were placated with control over their domains • Middle class happy with growing bureaucracy, public schools • Liberals satisfied: press is free, congress strengthened, church kept under control • Improvements in infrastructure and governance • Railroads, police force, trade • Problems • former military who were dismissed to roam the countryside as bandits • Land problem is explosive • Indian revolts, famine • In the end: tenuous hold on constitutional democracy

  5. The “Porfiriato” • Porfirio Diaz: 34 years: 1876-1910: • “No reelection” • “Bread and the Club” • Dictator: the greatest villian in 20th C. Mexico • Legacy: • Achievements: cities beautified, banditry subdued, attracted foreign capital and modernized the economy • Expense: Mexican people, due process, democracy • Technique: “Double-speak” • Why? • Mexico is exhausted, tired of chaos

  6. Porfirio Diaz Legacies • Modernization: Creditworthiness foreign investment • Infrastructure, hydroelectric, mills and factories, ports, mining, telephone and telegraph; especially railroad • “The Gilded Age” • Wealth, French influence, feminism, positivism (science and social Darwinism), emergent Mexican aesthetic in art • “Dependencia” • 85% of mines were US owned Guggenheim and Anaconda): oil companies: US and British. Banks and industries in foreign hands. • Land concentration: 1910: 2% of pop holds title to land/ 3% of these cover 58% of Mexico • Ley Lerdo enforced • “Vacant Lands Survey” sale of “public” lands • Indians who sued were fined by judges of accused of besmirch the name of the hacendado or surveyor

  7. Precursors to Revolution • Starvation: • 1910: 10% of Indian communities hold land (Arable lands: cash crops or fallow) • Indians refused land rental to grow crops • 50% rise in pop since 1877, less maize produced • Independence: 2 lbs.x person x day • 1910: 1 lb. • Price of beans is now 6X 1877. • Wages are the same. • Deplorable living conditions for poor • Racism masked as “survival of the fittest” • European immigration encouraged

  8. The Pot Boils • Nationalism results from multi-leveled aggravations • Upper classes resent foreign ownership • Middle classes resent Euro immigration • Peasants • US calls for annexation of Mexico, • (US also intervenes on behalf of business interests in Guatemala and Caribbean • Economic Depression: 1907-1908 • Madero challenges, front runner, imprisioned • 100th Anniversary of Independence: 1910 • Porfirio spends 20 million pesos (> entire education budget)

  9. The Revolution of Mexico: 1910-1940 • Part I: Madero declares self president from San Antonio, calls for uprising to start on Nov. 20, 1910 • Teachers, mechanics, merchants, miners, creoles, hacendados, unemployed, bandits, peasants • Porfirio Diaz fights, but can’t quell Chihuahua: • Terrazas: 50 haciendas and 7 million acres, mines, banks, telephone companies, and textile mills. Governors, senators, state legislators. • Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco • Feb. 11, 1911: Madero crosses border, marches to Mexico city. Diaz resigns on May 25.

  10. The Revolution of Mexico: 1910-1940 • Madero: weak, mistakes, underestimates opposition. Political revolution fine, but doesn’t solve problems • Victoriano Huerta: becomes president, supported by Taft’s ambassador protecting US business interests. • “Dollar Diplomacy”: US intervention prolongs war as Mexico unites against invasion and Madero murdered. • Huerta defeated. Woodrow Wilson supports revolutionaries: • Pancho Villa: bandit by trade: “Mexico’s Robin Hood” • Land reform and universal education • Emiliano Zapata: small landowner and horse trainer • “Plan de Ayala” articulated land reform issues that became central to revolution

  11. The Revolution of Mexico: 1910-1940 • Anarchy and militarization of Mexico: • various factions fight for control: key is that social change is desired, not just political change • Carranzas, Villa, Zapata, Obregon • Each faction claims regional president • Pancho Villa kills US citizens and sends troops to New Mexico for arms…”death to the gringos” provoking US to send Pershing into Mexico • Carranza has the largest territory, from Veracruz • Allies with Obregon, defeats Villa, “Battle of Celaya” • Caranza Presidency 1917-1920 • Constitution of 1917 • But revolution continues---starves and exhausts population even further

  12. Constitution of 1917 • Article 27: land reform, ½ of the constitution • Eliminated monopolies on water and mineral resources • Made ejidos inalienable • Land redistribution to be paid for by gov. bonds • Restricted foreign ownership and outlawed foreign intervention • Article 123: destroyed debt peonage • Minimum wage • Working conditions • Right to organize, collective bargaining and strike • Catholic Church role limited • Takes two decades to implement

  13. Reconstruction and Stability: 1920-1940 • Obregon 1920-1924 • Vasconcelos: • The Mexican vision, Mexican “cosmic race” • Education • Calles 1924-1928 • “Jefe Maximo” • The “Maximato” 1928-1934 PNR (Partido Nacional Revolutionario) later becomes the PRI (Partido Revolutionario Institutional) • Nationalist: almost nationalizes oil industry but oil companies retaliate, and thwart his agenda

  14. Lazaro Cardenas: 1934-1940 • “the people’s hero”: Honest, incorruptible • Agrarian and labor reform • 18 million hectares (50 million acres) • Ejidos regained land; credit for irrigation and inputs • Encouraged to create political orgs for representation (CNC) • Haciendas peons • Supported labor unions (CTM) • Nationalized oil: $24 million • Franklin D.Roosevelt supports non intervention in LA • Development: transportation, healthcare, housing and sanitationPopulation soars: • Art and Culture—outpouring of creativity • “Mexicanidad” (Frida Kahlo) • Illiteracy goes from 80 % (Porfiriato) to 38%

  15. Conservative shift (1940-58) • Camacho, Aleman, Cortines • Good US relations • Supported US during WWII • Roosevelt visits interior of Mexico (Good Neighbor Policy) Braceroprogram • Mexicanization of Industry: unique mix of social capitalism • Manufacturing, 51% rule • Huge growth in output (see chart) • Labor Policies: Reins tightened, Social security instituted, but population growth challenges • Agrarian Policies: Virtually abandoned, emphasis on industrial agriculture • Education: UNAM, but < 1$ of rural children finish 6th grade • Social Policy: women win the vote

  16. Shifting politics w/in the PRI: 1958-1976 • Lopez Mateos (58-64): relative liberal elected with 90% vote • Land distribution (30 mill acres); Expanded SS and public health;Worker’s profit sharing; Education. Illiteracy keeps up with growing pop. • Economic dev: PEMEX, but nationalized electric and motion picture industries. • Ordaz (64-70): bad for the 1960’s. • 1968 Olympics • Tlatelolco Massacre of students • Echeverria (70-76): • Thought to be responsible for the massacre, alienated • But shifts into “shared development” • But population growth continues

  17. Lopez Portillo (1976-1982) • Inherits double peso devaluation from Echevarria embarrassment • Petrodollars from new oil discoveries in Chiapas and Tabasco. Mexico is 4th largest producer by 1981 • Independent foreign policy: supported Cuba, Allende, against Reagan in Central America • Despite oil, high social expenditures, and low international agricultural prices increase deficit to $12 billion near default rescued by IMF and institution of SAP’s • SAPs contract economy: inflation slows, Public spending reduced by 1/3 • Mexico owes 53% of budget to foreign debt

  18. 1980’s-1990’s • Pres. De la Madrid (1982-1988) • 1985 earthquake • joins GATT, paving way for NAFTA • Opens elections to PAN • Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) “elite Harvard technocrat” • Cuauhtemoc Cardenas abandons PRI PRD • Electoral reforms • Privatizes, lifts 51% rule • 1993/1994: NAFTA • Family and government corruption implicate him • Zedillo (1994-2000) • 1995: Another financial crisis and bailout by US/Clinton

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