Aarón Sáenz Garza (1 June 1891 – 26 February 1983) was a Mexican politician.

Biography

He was born in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

. Sáenz Garza served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs during Calles' time as president. During his tenure, he continuously defended the Calles Administration's decision to cut oil to the United States when US Secretary of State Frank Kellog tried to bargain for a deal. He soon became

Governor of Nuevo León The Mexican state of Nuevo León has been governed by more than a hundred individuals in its history, who have had various titles and degrees of responsibility depending on the prevailing political regime of the time. Under the current regime, ...

and maintained close ties with Calles; as governor, he even sat with Calles when he questioned the assassin of President-elect Alvaro Obregon in 1928. It was also announced that Calles had plans to nominate him as the Chairman of the National Revolutionary Party.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Pascual Ortiz Rubio Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a Mexican military officer, topographical engineer, diplomat and politician who served as the 49th President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three presidents to serve ou ...

appointed him

Secretary of Public Education In Mexico, the Secretariat of Public Education (Spanish language, in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with Cabinet (government), cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseein ...

in February 1930. By 1934, Saenz had been dubbed as the "Shadow of Calles" and was named Governor of Mexico's Federal District by Mexican President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...

. Cardenas and the Mexican Congress, however, soon turned on both Calles and Saenz and condemned their continued persecution against Catholics in the country. After leaving office in 1935, Saenz established a sugar corporation and quickly revolutionized sugar production in the country.Aarón Sáenz; Mexico's revolutionary capitalist, James C. Hefley, pg. 93 He was also known as the "king of Mexican sugar", founding a dynasty which survives until this date, led by his son Aaron Saenz Couret and grandson Aaron Saenz Hirschfeld, at the head of the leading sugar company in Mexico. At one point, he held a virtual monopoly of Mexico's sugar industry. His monopoly, however, was brought down during the administration of Mexican president

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines ( 30 December 1889 – 3 December 1973) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously served as Governor of Vera ...

by 1953. Saenz was married to Margarita Couret, with whom he had eight sons. He died on 26 February 1983 at the age of 91.

Businesses

For some time they all managed varied branches of the family's businesses, most of which have ceased to exist or passed into others' ownership. Most notable among these were: * Mexicana de Aviación (Now bankrupt) *Sugar mills *Seguros Atlas—merged with Seguros Comercial America in the 90's and afterwards sold to France's

AXA Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

*Banca Confía—nationalized in 1982, only to be re privatized by

Carlos Salinas de Gortari Carlos Salinas de Gortari (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexicans, Mexican economist, historían and former politician who served as the 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Considered the frontman of Mexican Neoliberalism by formulating, p ...

's administration and passing into the hands of

Jorge Lankenau Jorge Lankenau Rocha (16 April 1944 – 16 June 2012) was a Mexican banker and businessman born in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He was founder and president of Grupo Financiero Abaco, one of the most important financial groups in Mexico in the 199 ...

's insurance group, later to be merged with

Banamex #redirect Grupo Financiero Banamex Grupo Financiero Banamex S.A. de C.V. has its origins and is the owner of the Banco Nacional de México or Banamex (branded as Citibanamex 2016-2025). It is the second-largest bank in Mexico. The Banamex Finan ...

and acquired by

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

during President

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Re ...

's administration.

Legacy

Aarón Sáenz was related to

Raul Saenz Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

, a prominent Mexican businessman in Chihuahua state, as well as

Moises Saenz Moises or Moisés is a male name common among people of Iberian origin. It is the Spanish, Portuguese and Tagalog equivalent of the name Moses. Notable people bearing the name include: * Moisés (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2008), Brazilia ...

, a prominent Mexican educator and diplomat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saenz Garza, Aaron 1891 births 1983 deaths Governors of Nuevo León Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians 20th-century Mexican businesspeople Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico) Mexican people of Spanish-Jewish descent Mexican Protestants Secretaries of foreign affairs of Mexico Secretaries of education of Mexico Politicians from Monterrey