Porfirio Diaz won power opposing re-election, then ruled Mexico for decades
Porfirio Diaz rose up against two presidents in the name of one principle: no re-election. After seizing power in 1876 he briefly honoured it, handing over to an ally in 1880. Then in 1884 he returned and stayed continuously until 1911, holding the presidency for over thirty years in total, longer than any other Mexican ruler.
Diaz was baptised on 15 September 1830 in Oaxaca; his exact birth date is unknown. His father, a workman who had built up an agave business and a wayside inn, died of cholera when Porfirio was three, and his mother ran the inn while raising the children. At fifteen he entered a seminary to train as a priest, but in 1849 he switched to law, against his family's wishes. Through a mentor he met Benito Juarez, then governor of Oaxaca and later president.
He made his name as a soldier for the Liberal cause. He fought against Santa Anna's final dictatorship and in the Reform War, and during the French intervention he took part in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, which temporarily turned back the invaders. Captured twice, he escaped both times, and in June 1867, as the French-backed empire of Maximilian collapsed, he led the forces that retook Mexico City.
His long rule, known as the Porfiriato and widely described as a de facto dictatorship, ended decades of instability and economic stagnation. A circle of technocrats called the cientificos, meaning scientists, steered policy that favoured allies and foreign investors and helped large landowners consolidate estates, often through abuse of the law. Workers and peasants shared little in the growth, and strikes and uprisings followed. Under Diaz it also became customary to mark the Grito de Dolores, the 1810 cry that launched the independence war, on the eve of its anniversary, which happened to be his baptism date.
In 1908 Diaz told the public he favoured a return to democracy and would not run again. He reversed course, and in 1910, aged 80, declared himself winner of an eighth term. His opponent, the wealthy estate owner Francisco I. Madero, called for armed rebellion, sparking the Mexican Revolution. After his army suffered defeats, Diaz resigned in May 1911 and went into exile in Paris, where he died in 1915.
Source: Porfirio Díaz
