Pascual Ortiz Rubio | |
|---|---|
 Ortiz Rubio, 1932 | |
| 49th President of Mexico | |
| In office 5 February 1930 – 2 September 1932 | |
| Preceded by | Emilio Portes Gil |
| Succeeded by | Abelardo L. Rodríguez |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies forMichoacán's 2nd district | |
| In office 16 September 1912 – 10 October 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Ricardo García Granados |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1877-03-10)10 March 1877 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico |
| Died | 4 November 1963(1963-11-04) (aged 86) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Party | National Revolutionary Party |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo National School of Mining (BS) |
| Signature |  |
Pascual Ortiz Rubio (Spanish pronunciation:[pasˈkwaloɾˈtisˈruβjo]; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a Mexican military officer,topographical engineer, diplomat and politician who served as the 49thPresident of Mexico from 1930 to 1932.[1] He was one of three presidents to serve out the six-year term (1928–1934) of assassinated president-electÁlvaro Obregón, while former presidentPlutarco Elías Calles retained power in a period known as theMaximato. Calles was so blatantly in control of the government that after an attempt on his life and pressures, Ortiz Rubio resigned the presidency in protest in September 1932, being the last Mexican president to date that has resigned.[2]
He was born inMorelia,Michoacán, the son of a lawyer and landowner, Pascual Ortiz de Ayala y Huerta, and Leonor Rubio Cornejo. He attended theColegio de San Nicolás in state capital Morelia, training as an engineer. He became politically active as a student and was opposed to the re-election ofPorfirio Díaz in 1896. With the outbreak of theMexican Revolution in 1910 and the election ofFrancisco I. Madero in 1911, Ortiz Rubio was elected to the federal legislature as a representative from Michoacán. When GeneralVictoriano Huerta forced Madero and his vice president to resign and then murdered them in February 1913, Huerta jailed Ortiz Rubio. Huerta was ousted in 1914 by several revolutionary factions, and the Federal Army collapsed with that defeat. Ortiz Rubio joined theConstitutionalist Army headed byVenustiano Carranza. With the rank of colonel initially, he rose to the rank of brigadier general. The Constitutionalist faction went on to defeat rival revolutionary factions.[3]
Ortiz Rubio served asGovernor of Michoacán from 1917 to 1920, and then assecretary of communications from 1920 to 1921, underSonoran generalsAdolfo de la Huerta andÁlvaro Obregón, who, along with fellow Sonoran Plutarco Elías Calles dominated politics in the 1920s. When Calles was elected president in 1924, Ortiz Rubio was appointed Mexican ambassador to Germany, and then Brazil.[3]
The Presidency of Ortiz Rubio has been seen as the apex of ex-President Calles's power asjefe máximo, with Ortiz Rubio portrayed as "puppet president". Although he is not the focus of major scholarly studies, his presidency has been examined in the context of post-revolutionary Mexican history.[4]
President-elect Álvaro Obregón was assassinated in 1928, leaving a power vacuum. Since Calles could not succeed himself as president, he created a political party, theNational Revolutionary Party (PNR). That move institutionalized power and was the way that Calles could maintain personal control of men holding the presidency.Emilio Portes Gil was interim president after the assassination, and new elections were set for 1929. Calles passed over Portes Gil andAarón Sáenz, who had expected to become the candidate[5] and tapped Ortiz Rubio to be PNR's candidate in the election of 17 November 1929. He ran againstJosé Vasconcelos, Obregón'sSecretary of Public Education, noted for his stance against corruption and Calles's authoritarian rule.[6]
Ortiz Rubio had no independent power base that could counterbalance Calles, and so as president, he was seen an ineffective leader.[7] Ortiz Rubio had been the ambassador to Brazil during crucial years in the 1920s that political alliances were forged. Vasconcelos was a strong opposition candidate who had considerable support among university students, the middle class, and some workers from northeast Mexico. Just before overtures from Cristeros to the Vasconcelos campaign led to further developments, the government concluded an agreement with the Vatican to bring theCristero War to a close. It was believed at the time that Vasconcelos actually won the election.[8] According to one report, the margin was only 700,000 votes.[9] However, according to the official results of the1929 elections, Ortiz Rubio's won by a landslide over Vasconcelos.
The cabinet of Ortiz Rubio underwent many changes in his brief presidency, many of which were at the behest of ex-President Plutarco Elías Calles.[10] There were many familiar names in Mexican revolutionary politics. The interim president Portes Gil initially became Minister of the Interior, the highest ranking cabinet post, but there were multiple changes in the post, including the appointment of generalLázaro Cárdenas who served in 1931. As Minister of Public Education, the disappointed Aarón Sáenz presidential hopeful served briefly but quickly moved to lead the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. GeneralJoaquín Amaro headed War and Navy as he had in the cabinets of Calles and of Portes Gil. At Agriculture and Development was GeneralManuel Pérez Treviño. The cabinet-level position of head of the Federal District that governed Mexico City was initially held by Dr.José Manuel Puig Casauranc, and during his term as president, he oversaw the passage of a new labor law and inaugurated the zoo inChapultepec Park.[11]Alleging excessive interference in his presidency by ex-President Calles, from whom Ortiz demonstrated independence while he was in office[6]
On February 5, 1930, the day Ortiz Rubio assumed the presidency at the National Stadium, he was heading to the National Palace to receive congratulations. As his car exited the building, it was attacked by Daniel Flores González, who fired six shots at the car, hitting him in the jaw. Flores was immediately arrested and interrogated[1]
The attack shocked the public and political circles, occurring in a tense context following the 1929 presidential elections, in which Ortiz Rubio was accused by opponents of being imposed as a candidate by then-president Plutarco Elías Calles.
Daniel Flores González, from Charcas, San Luis Potosí, was reportedly sympathetic to the Vasconcelista movement led by José Vasconcelos, who had lost the 1929 election. Flores opposed what he saw as electoral fraud that favored Ortiz Rubio. His actions were seen as a protest against the regime established by Calles.[2]
There were also claims that Flores may have been influenced by conspirators within the revolutionary circle, suggesting the attack had broader political motivations.[3]
President Ortiz Rubio was hospitalized for two months due to his injuries. Although he survived, the attack affected his health and morale, negatively impacting his ability to govern. This event marked the beginning of a presidency heavily influenced by Calles, who maintained effective control over political decisions.
Daniel Flores González was sentenced to 19 years in prison for attempted assassination. However, on April 22, 1932, he was found dead in his cell at the Federal District Penitentiary, fueling speculation about possible reprisals or cover-ups.
He resigned the presidency on 2 September 1932.[12] He resigned "with my hands clean of blood or money" and later in his memoir called Calles's rule as a "thinly veiled dictatorship."[13] The following day, Congress elected a substitute successor, PresidentAbelardo L. Rodríguez, a revolutionary general and another protégé of Calles, who served the remaining two years of the six-year term.[12]
On September 4, 1932, two days after his resignation, Ortiz Rubio went into self-exile in the United States.[12] He returned to Mexico in 1935, following the 1934 election of PresidentLázaro Cárdenas, a fellow son of Michoacán.[3] In 1942, PresidentManuel Ávila Camacho invited all living former presidents of Mexico as a show of unity to join together in a public event at theZócalo inMexico City, with Emilio Portes Gil, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Abelardo Rodríguez, the three presidents during the Maximato, along with Lázaro Cárdenas and Plutarco Elías Calles.[14]
In 1963, Ortiz Rubio published a memoir.[15]
On November 4, 1963, Ortiz Rubio died in Mexico City.[16]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Mexico 1930–1932 | Succeeded by |
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