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More on Plutarco Elías Calles
Calles political career began when he became the Governor of Sonora. After that he eventually became president (during the revolution) and then the leader of the Maximato. The Maximato was a period in Mexico where Calles took control of the government and controlled three presidents that were elected during 1928-1934. During his term he did many things like regulate the petroleum industry by creating CAPN (Control de la Administracion del Petroleo Nacional) that would be used as competition to -
Plutarco Elias Calles
other foreign businesses in order to regulate prices. He also and inspected all social areas, and created rural schools, but didn’t allow church schools, since he suppressed the Roman Catholic Church. He also improved the agrarian, labor, educational, and tax reforms. During his term as president he also nationalized oil, creating a monopoly in oil production. Finally he reduced public debt from 998.3 mp to 452.8 mp and founded the PNR which was the Partido Nacional Revolucionario. -
Maximato
The Maximato was a period where Calles took controll of the presidents and had 3 “puppets”. His three “puppets” were Emilio Portes Gil, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, and Abelardo L. Rodriguez. This was known as the “Dedazo” where the next president was picked by the previous president or in this case Calles. During the Maximato the presidential term increased from four to six years and the Mexican Communist party was persecuted. During this term agricultural produtivity and land redistribution stopped, a -
Lázaro Cárdenas
During Cardenas political term he changed the PNR (created by Calles) to PRM. Cardenas created the PRM to eliminate what Calles had done and give more rights to the people and their interests. He did many things like distribute land to ejidos and implement socialist education. To help Mexico’s economy he cut his salary in half and removed American companies and alliance with Mexico, in order to have more Mexican business owners to benefit the people of Mexico. This lead to the expropriation of -
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Mexican petroleum companies and the formation of PEMEX. During his term there were high levels of cultivation due to land redistribution and enlarging agricultural land and rapid population growth. Finally like Calles he was against religious schools and was also anti-cleric. -
Manuel Ávila Camacho
Camacho’s career began when he joined the army of Carranza and eventually rises up and became president. During his presidency he expanded the school system, built hospitals. He was also the founder of sponsored social security legislation (IMSS) which was an organization to improve “public health, pensions and social security in Mexico operating under Secretariat of Health.” He also supported limited land reform, and replaced the leader of CTM. CTM was founded by Cardenas and is a federation -
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trade unions. He also changed direction in education putting an end to socialist education and pursued the country’s industrialization, which only benefited a small percent of the population. Finally he improved relations with the U.S. -
Miguel Alemán
Aleman was a law student that eventually became the president of Mexico. During his term he slowed down Mexico’s agrarian reform, but accelerated industrial development and public work projects. He raised military budget and secretly his as well. He was extremely corrupt and stole a lot of Mexico’s money. -
Adolfo Ruiz Cortines
Cortines, during his term as president, ended the turmoil between the government and the labor movement. He improved woman’s rights by giving them the right to vote in presidential elections. He also tried to improve the health of his people by promoting an immunization camping. He increased the level of workers wages, and found ways to avoid US influence. He also promoted agricultural produce and the growth of coastal cities. But during his term Mexico’s economy suffered a great deal, due to -
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Inflation by 7.5% and devaluation of the peso by 5%. He spend a lot on oil exploration and drilling infrastructure and invested in irrigation and infrastructure projects, leaving Mexico’s economy in very bad conditions. -
Adolfo López Mateos
Mateos was an anti communist (“mano dura”) president and focused on achieving political and social stability due to the suppression of social movements. During his term he continued with land redistribution and opened new agricultural lands. He also created many social-welfare programs to fight poverty and created ISSTE which was a social security service that provided many things like “child care, medical services, and other social services to workers, especially state employees.” He also -
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improved education, provided classes for adults, and restored focus on school construction. He stepped up state intervention in economy through industrialization, and extending agrarian reform laws. Finally he embarked upon public health programs to fight diseases and like other presidents Mateos was extremely corrupt and increased his wage by 16%. -
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Ordaz during his presidential term changed the law and allowed 18 year olds to vote. He also improved education, and hosted the Summer Olympics in Mexico. This caused a lot of economic instability and angry people. During his term there was also a protest of freedom and liberty right in Tlatelolco. -
Luis Echevarría Álvarez
Echeverria was a very hard worker but it still wasn’t enough to do any good to Mexico’s economy. During his presidential term there was high rise in abductions, youth unemployment, and inflation. There was also a devaluation of the peso from 12.50 pesos to 20.50 pesos. He managed to nationalize telephone and tobacco industries but it still wasn’t enough to stabilize Mexico’s economy, and left Mexico in deep crisis. To improve his horrible reputation he released student prisoners.... -
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(Tainted by Tlatelolco). He also improved life of rural Mexicans and believed in protectionism by the government. Finally he like many previous presidents was charged with corruption. -
José López Portillo
Portillo like Echeverria did no good to help Mexico’s economy. Like him he caused high unemployment and inflation, and devalued the peso. He also nationalized the banks and blamed them for all of his mistakes. During his term there were a lot of Narcotraficants and he created huge government funded projects and took many loans. He also increased domestic food production and created Petropolitics. Finally during his term Mexico had an earthquake and it started to show a little strength. -
Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado
De la Madrid also part of the PRI took the presidency in a difficult economic situation, since there was high inflation and drop in international oil prices. To help solve these problems he implemented several programs to fight inflation, removed trade barriers, and privatized national industries. He also reduced government spending, and eventually managed to bring a level of stability to the country. But still relations with the US were troubled due to undocumented immigration and drug -
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trafficking. -
Carlos Salinas de Gortari
De Gortari was the first PRI candidate to face a competitive election, but eventually won by manipulating the votes. He changed the Clerical Laws and established a new relationship between State and Church, since he “allowed churches to own their own buildings” He also privatized TELMEX and the banking system and created a National Development Plan. This plan consisted of 4 main parts which were: protecting sovereignty, democracy, economic recovery, and improving the living standard. He was a -
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major promoter of NAFTA and he worked to revive Mexico’s economy by working on improving inflation and reducing government rules. Finally he was extremely corrupt like previous presidents. -
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León
Zedillo was the last president to continue the winning strike of the PRI due to his creation of transparent elections. These transparent elections showed how PRI lost the majority of the votes to the PAN. He was left with an almost bankrupt Mexico and through international loan and his program of economic recovery brought economic stability to Mexico. Finally a social movement was launched under Marcos. -
Vicente Fox Quesada
Vicente Fox was the president that put an end to the PRI’s winning strike. He was from the PAN and was very popular for his cowboy style and height. At first he was really liked by the people but then after he didn’t do what he had promised to do for Mexico in the elections his population started to disappear. He rejected the fiscal reform promoted by Francisco Gil Diaz which left people angry. He created AFI which was an agency that took care of federal crimes. He also came to an agreement with -
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the US on migration through the migration reform. Finally he created a library and airport but sadly ended in no good and only lost Mexico money. Even though he did all of these things he still didn’t live up to the standards he set him self to reach in the elections. -
Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Felipe Calderon was also a member of the PAN. He extended many projects started out by Fox like the Integration and Development Project by including Colombia, and took many of Lopez Obrador’s camping promises. He also created the Tortilla Price Stabilization Pact and many universities. Due to war with the cartels he improved relations with the US and Canada because of drug trafficking. Finally he managed to slowly improve Mexico’s economy. -
Enrique Peña Nieto
Enrique Peña Nieto is the former present of Mexico and is a member of the PRI. One of his main focus is the fight with the cartels, but no one yet knows how far he is willing to go to put a stop to this. He like Felipe continues to slowly improve Mexico’s economy and keeps a close tie with the US. He has also put his focus on the reforms and continues to make changes in all of its areas.
