Porfirio+Diaz

=PORFIRIO DIAZ=

Introduction
“Pity poor Mexico, so far fro, God, and so close to the United States,” stated Porfirio Diaz (Evens). In this famous quote of his, he states that Mexico should take their focus off religion and start focusing in industrialization like the Unites States. Porfirio Diaz was the president who ruled a long period of time in Mexico, with an iron fist and deftly spread Mexico’s wealth ("How Did Porfirio Diaz"). He was considered a dictator for his actions, for some people he was an abuser of the poor people since he took over people’s land, he was the only one who decided what to do with Mexico (Lenchek). On the other hand, some other people think that he was the one who made Mexico the way it is today. Without his actions Mexico would never be civilized and industrialized because he introduce new methods and resources from foreign countries to Mexico. Diaz wanted Mexico to stand out and be powerful like other countries and all this under his command (Donald).



Personal Background
Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori was born on September of 1830 in Oaxaca Mexico. His parents were Jose de la Cruz Diaz and Patrona Mori de Diaz. He was the sixth child of a middle class meztizo family that came from Oaxaca. They also were descendent from both Mixtec Indians and Spaniards. Porfirio Diaz grew up in extreme poberty and had a though childhood. When he was three years old he lost his father, so his mother forced him and his siblings to work hard in which ever job they found to supplement the family income (Donald). That did not keep him from attending school in Mexico City. After he attended school and studying a career in laws he realized that what he really wanted was to joined the military, it was his true vocation (Minster). For his big effort Diaz was quickly getting into military services and at the age of sixteen he started to get important position (Evens). He also had a great education and intelligence which made him get involved with important characters on politics like Benito Juarez, after they met, Diaz got involved on liberal ideas (Lencheck).

Porfirio Diaz got married with his first wife Delfina Ortega y Reyes. Then his career and life improved, and it made him look like if he had the life of a stereotypical Mexican caudillo (Evens). His first important service in the military was the war of the Reform, but his biggest battle was the Battle of Puebla in 1862, it made him ever more popular (Donald). It was not until 1876 when his effort he won the presidency of Mexico and he ruled the country with iron fist for 35 years and deftly spread Mexico’s wealth ("How Did Porfirio Diaz"). By the way he governed Mexico and how he took absolute power of the country, Diaz was considered a dictator and also he was a politic, general, and the president of the entire nation (Minster). Diaz became very powerful in the whole country, he was consider autocrat because how he ruled Mexico without limits and with an absolute authority (Channing).

After that, Diaz got married again with Carmen Rubio Romero; she was the daughter of a prominent supporter of Lerdo de Tejada which helped him to raise his power and government level in Mexico (Channing). His power in the presidency of Mexico last until 1884 when he lost the presidency caused by the reform against re-election (Donald). Then the Mexican army was too weak to resist and Diaz had to resign and he was forced to leave Mexico and move to Paris in 1911 (Lencheck). Porfirio Diaz died in Paris Europe on 1915 at the age of 85 (Donald).

Personality Traits
The life of Porfirio Diaz was not easy, that is the reason why he had to pass through many hard problems, and he was never personally friendly (Minster). Diaz always had a strong temper, and when he was little he was considered an innkeeper son and born ruled. Since kid, people noticed that Diaz was very intelligent and they said that he has a real genius (Channing). His intelligence and his desire to conquer and rule all the country made him change and as he grew older he became more dictorial and vicious, he wanted to have more and more power. Diaz become a mediocre and a rebellious student, he usually was a bad classmate (Donald). Many people saw him like an ambitious man who always wanted to win and to take control over everything he wanted. This image of Porfirio Diaz as a ruthless despot man had too much influence to the people in the post-revolution Mexican tradition. Poor people, workers and farmers thought that he was villainous figure of Mexican History because all the bad things that he did to them (Evens). Although most of the Mexican people considered him a bad person, there were people who thought that he was helping the country and that he was a great person. But, he was very generous just when he negotiated with important people and when he got involved with contracts and tax breaks for international investors and firms. Porfirio had the ability to manipulate other politics to ensure that they were on his side; they were the people who believed on his rule ("How Did Porfirio Diaz"). Diaz had to be carefully honest in handing the funds available to him; this helped him to keep order with the cost of his troops. Also, Diaz told that the re-election of Juarez had violated the rules of the plan of Ayutla, he wanted to gain the presidency and for his ambition he decided to do that against Juarez (Lenchek). He was a person who thought more about wealth and power than the welfare of the people in the country. Even if he helped to the country he just wanted to get involved in battles to make the country powerful, that is what he liked (Channing). He liked leading men into wars. Obviously, all this would not be possible without his courageous personality, with which he fought hard to make him and the country stringer and powerful (Donald).

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Obstacles
Porfirio Diaz had many problems that prevented him to do what he really wanted. First of all, the extreme poverty of his family since he was little was a problem to him. This problem was an obstacle to him because he could not get the discipline and education that he wanted and needed since he was a kid to be a better person (Minster). Diaz became a candidate to the presidency of Mexico on 1871 against Benito Juarez and he lost the election. Because of his loss, Porfirio said that the election was a fraud and that he was the one who had to be the president of the nation. Then, he created the phrase of “sufragio efectivo, no reeleccion” which was against Juarez because he had been reelected three times, and he believed that Mexico should have a new government (Donald). Throughout his life, Porfirio had to deal with many problems that tired to impose on his wishes to be powerful and take control over the country. When he finally won the presidency of Mexico on 1879, his rule was criticized for its suppression of liberties and uneven distribution of wealth (Evens). After that, people began to say that the dictator was wrong with his assessment and ideas to stabilize the country and the politic situation (Lencheck). People other politicians began to doubt his government and questioning many things, that is why Fransisco I. Madero decided to run against Diaz founding the party anti-reeleccionista. Madero just wanted Porfirio Diaz out of the presidency because he had been too many years taking control over Mexico and Madero thought that he was the one who should occupied by him (Minster). Madero started demonstrating and telling people that the power of Diaz was waning, and he said many other tings trying to persuade other people against Porfirio Diaz. That is how Madero declared himself the president of Mexico and stared the revolution. Madero allied with Zapata, Villa and Orozco to remove Diaz faster since it was convenient for all of them, on May 1911 Diaz was forced to leave Mexico (“How did Porfirio Diaz”). Zapata and Villa had fought before against Diaz to get land and the rights of the peasants and workers that had been denied by Diaz. It was until Madero and Orozco allied with them that they could exiled Porfirio Diaz to Europe and then they had succeeded getting what they wanted (Minster).

Historical Significance
Porfirio Diaz was one of the presidents who established one of the longest dictatorships in the world. His government led Mexico to develop its economy and industrialization in this period of time (Donald). Diaz was determined as the president who brought more civilization and a thriving economy to the country since it began to associate with foreign countries and with their help, he began new projects for the development of Mexico imitating the civilization of those countries (Evens).Diaz introduced different modern technologies to Mexico, such as plantation industry, mines, and transportation infrastructures for the improvement of the country (“How did Porfirio Diaz”). Thanks to him, Mexico obtained different benefits that had never before been achieved. Some of this benefits were the creation of the railroads, fund for education were achieved, the stabilization of the currency, developing of oil industry and the industrialization of factories that benefited many people (Lencheck). With the construction of the train that Porfirio Diaz made, the businesses and the economy bloomed and the people benefited with this new method of both, transportation of products and transport which made the mobilization easier inside the country. This was one of the most important projects Porfirio Diaz made and it changed the future and the history of Mexico giving it a big boost to industrialization (Minster). Even though the Porfiriato created a big change in the economy and the modernization, it also created a big social inequality, now the rich people were richer and the poor people were poorer, they were the peasants and natives (Evens). Porfirio Diaz wanted a total change for the country, he thought Mexico had to grow and excel as an industrialized modern country. Whereby, he also made a solid bank system and an effective tax collection to make the economy of the country better and se an order in Mexico. This system had an improvement in the country, it specially benefited people of the high class because they got more opportunities and the middle class were who paid almost all the taxes. Because Porfirio Diaz wanted Mexico to excel in every ambit, he changed some laws and reforms that made Mexico more attractive for the people who invested in their products and resources (Donald). He also created a Police Force between the Rurales and the Federales to maintain the order of the country. Nowadays, the Federal police remain in force and they are responsible for maintaining public order in non-urban areas (Lancheck). Another of the many things Porfirio did was to pay off Mexico’s creditors that it owed to foreign countries, which led that in 1894 Mexico obtained a balance of the national budget for the first time in Mexico’s history (Donald). Diaz gave Mexico a lot of new resources and modernizations so it will excel between the other countries. But, he also brought many problems to the country, especially to the people of the lower class and to the farmers. The dictator Diaz abused of the poor people’s rights because he made them work on the lands that he took over from them (Channing). For this reason, many peasants rose up in arms to fight for their rights in Madero’s side. Francisco I. Madero was an opponent of Porfirio who wanted to take him off of the presidency, and that is why in 1910 Diaz announced that he allow fair and free elections to elect the new president between Madero and Diaz (Minster). This was how the alliance begun against Diaz, fighting against the Porfiriato, Madero, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata joined forces. Franciscio I. Madero finally launched a campaign against the regime that developed into an armed insurrection and the civilians were attacking the Mexican Army that already was too weak. Therefore, in 1910 the Mexican Revolution exploded against the Porfiriato and the Mexican government. The revolution was one of the most important battles in Mexico’s history and Porfirio was one of the main characters in this event (Lencheck).

=References= Channing, Arnold, and Federek J.,Tabor "The Rule of Porfirio Diaz, 1909." //ModernHistory Sourcebook.// (1998)//. fordham.//edu. Web.13 Nov. 2014. SE #5

Donald, Marby J. "Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915)." //Historic world leaders.// 4 (1994). //Latinamericanstudies.org//. Web. 10 Sep. 2014. SE #3

Evens, Travis. "The Porfiriato: The Stability and Growth Mexico Needed." //Studies bye undergraduate researches at Guelph.// 5.2 (2012). //Journal.lib.uoguelp.ca. W//eb. 17 Sep. 2014. SE #1

Lenchek, Shep. "Porfirio Diaz, an enigma." //Mexconnect//. (2003) //Mexiconnect.com//. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. SE #6

Minster, Christopher. ”Biography of Porfirio Diaz.” A//bouteducation//. 18 Nov. 2004. //Abouteducation//. Web. 30 Sep. 2014. SE #2

Minster, Christopher. "How Did Porfirio Diaz Stay in Power for 35 Years?" //abouteducation.// 15 Dec. 2004. //lationamericanhistory.about.// Web. 04 Nov. 2014. SE #4

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