Porfirio Díaz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Most Excellent
Porfirio Díaz Mori
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29th President of Mexico | |
In office 1 December 1884 – 25 May 1911 |
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Vice President | Ramón Corral (1904–1911) |
Preceded by | Manuel González |
Succeeded by | Francisco León de la Barra |
In office 17 February 1877 – 1 December 1880 |
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Preceded by | Juan N. Méndez |
Succeeded by | Manuel González |
In office 28 November 1876 – 6 December 1876 |
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Preceded by | José María Iglesias |
Succeeded by | Juan N. Méndez |
Personal details | |
Born |
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori
15 September 1830 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Died | 2 July 1915 Paris, France |
(aged 84)
Resting place | Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris |
Political party | National Porfirist Party National Reelectionist Party (previously Liberal Party) |
Spouse(s) |
Delfina Ortega Díaz
(m. 1867–1880)Carmen Romero Rubio
(m. 1881–1915) |
Children | Deodato Lucas Porfirio (1875–46) Luz Aurora Victoria (1875–65) |
Parent(s) | José Faustino Díaz Orozco María Petrona Mori Córtés |
Profession | Military officer, politician. |
Signature | ![]() |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1848–1876 |
Rank | General |
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from February 17, 1877 to December 1, 1880 and from December 1, 1884 to May 25, 1911. A veteran of the War of the Reform (1858–60) and the French intervention in Mexico (1862–67), Díaz rose to the rank of General, leading republican troops against the French-imposed rule of Emperor Maximilian. Seizing power in a coup in 1876, Díaz and his allies, a group of technocrats known as "Científicos", ruled Mexico for the next thirty-five years, a period known as the Porfiriato.
Díaz has always been a controversial figure in Mexican history; while the Porfirian regime brought stability after decades of conflict, it grew unpopular due to civil repression and political stagnation.
His economic policies largely benefited his circle of allies as well as foreign investors, and helped a few wealthy estate-owning hacendados acquire huge areas of land, leaving rural campesinos unable to make a living. Likewise these estates were often deadly, resulting in the deaths of 600,000 workers in 1900 through the end of Diaz's rule.
Despite public statements favoring a return to democracy and not running for office, Díaz reversed himself and ran again in 1910. His failure to institutionalize presidential succession, as he was by then 80 years old, triggered a political crisis between the Científicos and the followers of General Bernardo Reyes, allied with the military and with peripheral regions of Mexico.
After Díaz declared himself the winner of an eighth term in office in 1910, his electoral opponent, Francisco I. Madero, issued a call for armed rebellion against Díaz, leading to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.
After the Federal Army suffered a number of military defeats against Madero's forces, Díaz was forced to resign in May 1911 and went into exile in Paris, the capital city of France, where he died four years later.