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Gustavo Díaz Ordaz | |
|---|---|
(b).jpg) Official portrait, 1964 | |
| 56th President of Mexico | |
| In office 1 December 1964 (1964-12-01) – 30 November 1970 (1970-11-30) | |
| Preceded by | Adolfo López Mateos |
| Succeeded by | Luis Echeverría |
| Secretary of the Interior of Mexico | |
| In office 1 December 1958 – 16 November 1964 | |
| President | Adolfo López Mateos |
| Preceded by | Ángel Carvajal Bernal |
| Succeeded by | Luis Echeverría |
| Senator of theCongress of the Union forPuebla | |
| In office 1 September 1946 – 31 August 1952 | |
| Preceded by | Noé Lecona Soto |
| Succeeded by | Luis C. Manjarrez |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies forPuebla's 1st district | |
| In office 1 September 1943 – 31 August 1946 | |
| Preceded by | Blas Chumacero |
| Succeeded by | Blas Chumacero |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños (1911-03-12)12 March 1911[1] San Andrés, Puebla, Mexico |
| Died | 15 July 1979(1979-07-15) (aged 68) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Resting place | Panteón Jardín, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Political party | Institutional Revolutionary Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Chespirito (first cousin once removed) |
| Alma mater | University of Puebla (LLB) |
| Profession | Politician |
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños (Spanish pronunciation:[ɡusˈtaβoˈði.asoɾˈðas]; 12 March 1911 – 15 July 1979) was a Mexican politician and member of theInstitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He served as thePresident of Mexico from 1964 to 1970. Previously, he served as a member of theChamber of Deputies forPuebla's1st district, a senator of theCongress of the Union forPuebla, andSecretary of the Interior.
Díaz Ordaz was born in San Andrés Chalchicomula, and obtained a law degree from theUniversity of Puebla in 1937 where he later became its vice-rector. He represented Puebla's 1st district in theChamber of Deputies from 1943 to 1946. Subsequently, he represented the same state in theChamber of Senators from 1946 to 1952 becoming closely acquainted with then-senatorAdolfo López Mateos. Díaz Ordaz was aCIA asset, known by the cryptonym, LITEMPO-2.[2]
Díaz Ordaz joined the campaign ofAdolfo Ruiz Cortines for the1952 election and subsequently worked for theSecretariat of the Interior underÁngel Carvajal Bernal. He became the secretary following López Mateos' victory in the1958 election, and exercisedde facto executive power during the absences of the president, particularly during theCuban Missile Crisis. In 1963, the PRI announced him as the presidential candidate for the1964 election, he received 88.81% of the popular vote.
His administration is mostly remembered for thestudent protests that took place in 1968, and their subsequent repression by the Army and State forces during theTlatelolco massacre, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were killed.[3][4][5] His presidency also took place during a period of high economic growth known as theMexican Miracle.
After passing on the presidency to his own Secretary of the Interior (Luis Echeverría), Díaz Ordaz retired from public life. He was briefly the Ambassador to Spain in 1977, a position he resigned after strong protests and criticism by the media. He died ofcolorectal cancer on 15 July 1979 at the age of 68.[6]
Despite high economic growth during his presidency, Díaz Ordaz is considered one of the most unpopular and controversial modern Mexican presidents,[7] largely for the Tlatelolco massacre and other repressive acts,[8] which would continue into the presidencies of his successors.
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños was born on 12 March 1911 in San Andrés Chalchicomula (nowCiudad Serdán),Puebla. His family was of mixedSpanish andIndigenous ancestry.[9] He had two older siblings, Ramón (born 1905) and María (born 1908), and two younger siblings, Ernesto and Guadalupe.[10] In his later years his father, Ramón Díaz Ordaz Redonet, worked as an accountant. However, for a decade he served in the political machine of PresidentPorfirio Díaz, becoming thejefe político and police administrator of San Andrés Chilchicomula. When Díaz was ousted by revolutionary forces in May 1911 at the outbreak of theMexican Revolution, he lost his bureaucratic post in the regime change. Subsequently, the family's financial situation was insecure, and Díaz Ordaz's father took a number of jobs and the family frequently moved.[11] He claimed ancestry with conqueror-chroniclerBernal Díaz del Castillo.[12] Gustavo's mother, Sabina Bolaños Cacho de Díaz Ordaz, was a school teacher, described as "stern and pious". Gustavo, as well as his elder brother Rámon, had a weak chin and large protruding teeth and was skinny. "His mother would freely say to anyone, 'But what an ugly son I have!'"[13] His lack of good looks became a way to mock him when he became president of Mexico.
The comedianChespirito (real name Roberto Gómez Bolaños) was hisfirst cousin once removed.[14][15]
When the family lived for a time inOaxaca, the young Díaz Ordaz attended the Institute of Arts and Sciences,[16] whose alumni includedBenito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz. He was a serious student, but due to his family's financial circumstances, he could not always buy the textbooks he needed. At one point, the family lived as a charity case with a maternal uncle in Oaxaca, who was a Oaxaca state official. The family had to absent themselves when powerful visitors came to the residence. While Gustavo attended the institute, his elder brother Ramón taught there after studies in Spain, teaching Latin. A student mocked Professor Ramón Díaz Ordaz's ugliness, and Gustavo defended his brother with physical force.[17] Díaz Ordaz graduated from theUniversity of Puebla on 8 February 1937 with a law degree. He became a professor at the university and served as vice-rector from 1940 to 1941.
His political career had a modest start. He had not fought in the Revolution and his father had been part of Porfirio Díaz's regime, so his political rise was not straightforward. He served in the government of Puebla from 1932 to 1943. In the latter year he became a federal politician, serving in theChamber of Deputies for the1st federal electoral district of Puebla, and he served as asenator for the same state from 1946 to 1952. He came to national prominence in the cabinet of President PresidentAdolfo López Mateos from 1958 to 1964, as Minister of the Interior (Gobernación).[18] On 18 November 1963, he became the presidential candidate for theInstitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).[19] Despite facing only token opposition, Díaz Ordaz campaigned as if he were the underdog.[20] He won the presidential election on 5 July 1964,[21] with 88.8% of the popular vote, while his main opponent,José González Torres of theNational Action Party garnered only 10.9%.[22]
Díaz Ordaz assumed the presidency on 1 December 1964[23] at thePalacio de Bellas Artes. There, he took the oath before theCongress of the Union presided over byAlfonso Martínez Domínguez. Former presidentAdolfo López Mateos turned over the presidential sash, and Díaz Ordaz delivered his inaugural address. The address lasted almost an hour, which was long for an inauguration speech in Mexico at the time.[24] In his address, he promised to defendMexico's constitution, submit to the will of Mexico's people, to prioritize the needs of Mexico's farmers, and (in response to criticism of the government's heavy involvement in business) that the government would not compete or supplant private investment. On foreign policy, he stated that Mexico would not break off relations withFidel Castro's Cuba, and that foreign investment was always welcome in Mexico as long as laws were followed. He announced the members of his cabinet, retaining four ministers from López Mateos.[24] Also at the inauguration were former presidentsEmilio Portes Gil,Abelardo L. Rodríguez,Lázaro Cárdenas,Miguel Alemán Valdés, andAdolfo Ruiz Cortines.[24]
As president, Díaz Ordaz was known for his authoritarian manner of rule over his cabinet and the country in general. His strictness was evident in his handling of a number of protests during his term, in which railroad workers, teachers, and doctors were fired for taking industrial action. A first demonstration of this new authoritarianism was given when he used force to end a strike by medics. Medics of theInstitute for Social Security and Services for State Workers, especially residents and interns, had organized a strike to demand better working conditions and an increased salary.[25] His authoritarian style of governing produced resistance such as the emergence of a guerrilla movement in the state of Guerrero.[26] Economically, the era of Díaz Ordaz was a time of growth.[27] He established theMexican Institute of Petroleum in 1965,[28] an important step, for oil has been one of Mexico's most productive industries.
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When university students inMexico City protested the government's actions around the time of the1968 Summer Olympics, Díaz Ordaz oversaw the occupation of theNational Autonomous University of Mexico and the arrest of several students, leading to the shooting of hundreds of unarmed protesters during theTlatelolco massacre inDowntown Mexico City on 2 October 1968. The Mexican army fired ruthlessly because a group called "Battalion Olympia" started the shooting between the unarmed students and many other people who let the students take shelter inside their homes.[citation needed] Statistics concerning the casualties of this incident vary, often for political reasons. Some people were kept imprisoned for several years. The crackdown would eventually be denounced by Díaz Ordaz's successors, and ordinary Mexicans view the assault on unarmed students as an atrocity. The stain would remain on the PRI for many years.
Every year, on the anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre, the statue of Díaz Ordaz inZapopan, Jalisco, is vandalized by having a bucket of red paint splattered on it.[29]
Díaz Ordaz's authoritarian manner of rule also prevented any attempt to democratize the PRI. The president of the PRI,Carlos Madrazo, made such an attempt by proposing inner-party elections in order to strengthen the party's base. After his attempt failed, Madrazo resigned.[30]
During the administration of Díaz Ordaz, relations with the US were largely harmonic, and several bilateral treaties were formed.[31] On September 8, 1969, Díaz Ordaz and PresidentRichard Nixon inaugurated theAmistad Dam inTexas.[32] In Díaz Ordaz's honor, President Nixon hosted the first White House state dinner to be held outsideWashington, D.C., atSan Diego'sHotel del Coronado on 3 September 1970.
However, there also were some points of conflict with the US. One was the antidrugOperation Intercept, conducted by the U.S.; between September and October 1969, all vehicles entering the US from Mexico were inspected.[33] Mexico also embraced the doctrine of nonintervention, and Díaz Ordaz condemned the US invasion ofSanto Domingo, the capital of theDominican Republic.[31]
Under his administration, theTreaty of Tlatelolco prohibited the production, possession, or use of nuclear weapons in Latin America. Only peaceful use of nuclear energy was allowed. The treaty made Latin America a nuclear weapon-free zone.[34]
On 12 October 1969, Díaz Ordaz chose his Secretary of the Interior,Luis Echeverría, as his successor, the seventh successive such selection by a sitting president without incident. Other possible candidates wereAlfonso Corona de Rosal,Emilio Martínez Manatou, andAntonio Ortiz Mena.[35] He also consideredAntonio Rocha Cordero, governor of the state of San Luis Potosí and former Attorney General, who was eliminated owing to his age (58), andJesús Reyes Heroles, who was disqualified because a parent had been born outside Mexico, in this case Spain, which was prohibited by Article 82 of the Constitution. In the assessment of political scientistJorge G. Castañeda, Echeverría was Díaz Ordaz's pick by elimination, not choice.[36]
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After his term expired, Díaz Ordaz and his family vanished completely from the public eye; he was occasionally mentioned in newspapers (usually in a derogatory manner), he seldom gave interviews, and he was usually spotted only when voting in elections.
In 1977, a break from that obscurity came as he was appointed as the first Mexican Ambassador to Spain in 38 years, relations between the two countries having previously been broken by the triumph ofFalangism in theSpanish Civil War. During his brief stint as Ambassador, he met with hostility from both the Spanish media and the Mexican media, as he was persistently asked questions about his actions as president. He resigned within several months because of that and his health problems.[37][38] Popular discontent led to a catchphrase: "Al pueblo de España no le manden esa araña" ("To the people of Spain, do not send that spider").
Díaz Ordaz became a critic of Luis Echeverría's presidency, particularly his use ofpopulist policies. Díaz Ordaz once referred to Echeverría as someone who was, "out of control. [Echeverría] talks about anything. He doesn't know what he is saying. He insists he's going to make changes, but he doesn't say to what end."[39]
He died on July 15, 1979, aged 68 ofcolorectal cancer, at home in his bed inMexico City, with his physician and children Gustavo, Guadalupe, and Ramón all present.[9] His remains were buried atPanteón Jardín, with those of his wife.[40]
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Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport inPuerto Vallarta is named after him.
Public opinion on the Díaz Ordaz administration and its legacy continues to be mostly negative, being associated with the Tlatelolco massacre and a general hardening ofauthoritarianism that would prevail during successive PRI administrations. Even during his lifetime, his appointment as Ambassador to Spain in 1977 was met with such rejection and protests that he had to resign shortly after.
In a national survey conducted in 2012, 27% of the respondents considered that the Díaz Ordaz administration was "very good" or "good", 20% responded that it was an "average" administration, and 45% responded that it was a "very bad" or "bad" administration.[7]
In 2018, the Government ofMexico City retired all plaques from theMexico City Subway system making reference to Díaz Ordaz that were installed during his administration.[41]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Mexico 1964–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Adolfo López Mateos | PRIpresidential candidate 1964 (won) | Succeeded by Luis Echeverría Álvarez |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Mexican Ambassador to Spain 1977 | Succeeded by |
Díaz Ordaz cabinet (1964–1970) | ||
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| Secretary of the Interior |
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| Secretary of Foreign Affairs |
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| Secretary of National Defense |
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| Secretary of the Navy |
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| Secretary of Finance and Public Credit |
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| Secretary of the Presidency |
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| Secretary of Public Works |
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| Secretary of National Assets |
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| Secretary of Public Education |
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| International | |
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