Emilio Cándido Portes Gil (; 3 October 1890 – 10 December 1978) was
President of Mexico
The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...
from 1928 to 1930, one of three to serve out the six-year term of President-elect General
Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...
, who had been assassinated in 1928. Since the
Mexican Constitution of 1917
The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...
forbade re-election of a serving president, incumbent President
Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928.
The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...
could not formally retain the presidency. Portes Gil replaced him, but Calles, the "Jefe Máximo", retained effective political power during what is known as the
Maximato
The ''Maximato'' was a transitional period in the historical and political development of Mexico from 1928 to 1934. Named after former president Plutarco Elías Calles's sobriquet ''el Jefe Máximo'' (the maximum leader), the ''Maximato'' was ...
.
Early life and education
Portes Gil was of
Dominican descent and was born in
Ciudad Victoria
Ciudad Victoria () is the seat of the Municipality of Victoria, and the capital of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located in the northeast of Mexico at the foot of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It borders the municipality of Güémez to ...
, the capital of the state of
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
, in northeastern Mexico.
["Emilio Portes Gil"]
''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 2009. He was a relative of
Trina de Moya
Trina de Moya (January 13, 1863 – March 13, 1941), also known by Trinidad de Moya, Trina de Moya de Vásquez, and Doña Trina, was a Dominican poet and writer. She served as the First Lady of the Dominican Republic as the wife of President Hor ...
, a Dominican poet and former
first lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
of the Dominican Republic.
Although his grandfather had been a prominent politician in Tamaulipas, Portes Gil's father died when Emilio was young. He lived with his widowed mother in straitened circumstances, but a state grant helped Portes Gil receive certification as a schoolteacher. He sought to study law.
Early career
He was in law school during the outbreak of the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
and in late 1914, he allied himself with "First Chief"
Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a February ...
, head of the Constitutionalist faction, who would assume the presidency of the country the following May. When Portes Gil graduated from law school in 1915, he had already begun his career in the public administration with a posting in the Constitutionalist faction's Department of Military Justice.
[Casteel, Cari]
"Portes Gil, Emilio"
The Historical Text Archive.
Portes Gil became part of the Northern leadership of the
Constitutionalist Army
The Constitutional Army ( es, Ejército constitucionalista; also known as the Constitutionalist Army) was the army that fought against the Federal Army, and later, against the Villistas and Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution. It was formed ...
, particularly
Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...
, who had defeated
's forces and eliminated them as a political or military factor in Mexico after 1915. Key to his subsequent political career was Sonoran general
Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928.
The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...
. Portes Gil demonstrated skills as a lawyer and administrator, which catapulted him into the presidency of Mexico when Obregón was assassinated in 1928.
Over the ensuing years, he continued to serve the government in both a legal capacity –(supreme state court judge in
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
; legal advisor to the Ministry of War) and in elective office: he was elected to
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
in 1917, 1921, and 1923, and he served as governor of his native Tamaulipas on two occasions (1920 and 1925).
Presidency
![Emilio_Portes_Gil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Emilio_Portes_Gil.PNG)
Between 28 August and 30 November 1928, he was Minister of the Interior (Gobernación) in the cabinet of Plutarco Elías Calles. When president-elect Álvaro Obregón was assassinated on 17 July 1928 by a Catholic opponent, a political solution to the crisis that did not include Calles returning to the presidency was necessary. Portes Gil, with the agreement of Calles, assumed office as interim president for a period of 14 months, when fresh elections were called.
Portes Gil inherited a widespread religious rebellion, the
Cristero War
The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...
, which Calles had provoked by aggressively enforcing anticlerical laws. As president, Portes Gil secretly negotiated the end to the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Mexican government, which created a ''
modus vivendi'' that lasted decades. He had reassured the Catholic Church that its officials could petition congress to amend laws that it found to be offensive and that the government would not interfere with its internal operations. The government also granted a general amnesty to Cristero fighters.
Faced with a university strike, he defused the situation by convening a special session of Congress, which ultimately enacted the legislation granting autonomy to the
National University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
.
[Mabry, Donald J]
"UNAM Student Strikes, 1929–1968"
The Historical Text Archive, 2001. His settling the strike is one of the acts for which he is best remembered as president.
He also attempted to negotiate the withdrawal of the United States troops from
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
, in exchange for the surrender of Nicaraguan General
Augusto Sandino
Augusto is an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish given name or surname. Notable people with the name include:
* Augusto Aníbal
*Augusto dos Anjos
* Augusto Arbizo
*Augusto Barbera (born 1938), Italian law professor, politician and judge
*Augusto B ...
. When the talks failed, he granted Sandino political asylum in Mexico and a parcel of land in
Temixco
Temixco is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It stands at in the west-northwest part of the state.
The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The municipality rep ...
.
Portes Gil attempted to steer government officials away from self-enrichment during their terms of office. He wanted his office-holders to "know how to be loyal to institutions, and like the country want the triumph of the Revolution."
His administration embarked on public works projects building schools, hospitals, and housing for the benefit of ordinary Mexicans. In Mexico City, a new hospital for tuberculosis patients was inaugurated; the physical plant of the National Preparatory School, housed in the colonial-era Colegio de San Ildefonso, was expanded; a major sports center open to all, built on a former city dump; and new police and fire stations built in Art Deco design.
Later life
He handed on the presidential sash to
Pascual Ortiz Rubio
Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a first Mexican President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three Mexican presidents to serve out the six-year term (1928–1934) of assassinated president-elect Álvaro O ...
on 5 February 1930, but effective power still remained in the hands of Calles. Portes Gil later served for 18 months as interior minister.
He subsequently traveled to Europe as Mexico's first representative to the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
. Under later presidents, he served in various capacities, including ambassador to India, foreign minister,
attorney-general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
, and president of the
Partido Nacional Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Party).
In 1933,
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.
Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...
was chosen as the party's official candidate for the 1934 presidential elections. Calles attempted to retain his own power as he had endeavored to do throughout the
Maximato
The ''Maximato'' was a transitional period in the historical and political development of Mexico from 1928 to 1934. Named after former president Plutarco Elías Calles's sobriquet ''el Jefe Máximo'' (the maximum leader), the ''Maximato'' was ...
, but Cárdenas outmaneuvered Calles politically and eventually exiled him from Mexico. Cárdenas put Portes Gil in charge of purging the party of Callista elements. Since Portes Gil was "one of the 'puppet presidents' so unceremoniously dumped by Calles,
ortes Gilwas happy to serve."
Cárdenas reorganized the party as the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM), setting the structural form of sectoral representation that its 1946 successor retained, the
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
(PRI). Cárdenas, however, returned Portes Gil to his stronghold in Tamaulipas once the former president had performed his task since the latter had "attempted to build up his own position for a possible political comeback."
[Cline, ''United States and Mexico'', p. 221.]
Portes Gil retired from politics in 1936
and died of a heart attack in Mexico City, at the age of 88.
See also
*
List of heads of state of Mexico
The Head of State of Mexico is the person who controls the executive power in the country. Under the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, current constitution, this responsibility lies with the President of Mexico, President of the ...
*
Maximato
The ''Maximato'' was a transitional period in the historical and political development of Mexico from 1928 to 1934. Named after former president Plutarco Elías Calles's sobriquet ''el Jefe Máximo'' (the maximum leader), the ''Maximato'' was ...
References
Further reading
*Alvardo Mendoza, Arturo. ''El Portesgilismo en Tamaulipas: Estudio ssobre lad Constitución de la Autoridad Pública en el México Postrevolucionario''. Mexico City: Colegio de México, 1992.
*Ankerson, Dudley. "Emilio Portes Gil" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico''. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, pp. 1173-74.
*Covian Martínez, Vidal Efrén. ''Emilio Portes Gil: Gobernador Delahuertista de Tamaulipas''. Ciudad Victoria: Siglo XX 1967.
*Dulles, John W.F. ''Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919-1936''. Austin: University of Texas Press 1961.
*González, Hugo Pedro. ''Portesgilismo y Alemanismo en Tamaulipas''. Ciudad Victoria: Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, 1983.
*
Krauze, Enrique, ''Mexico: Biography of Power''. New York: HarperCollins 1997.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portes Gil, Emilio
Presidents of Mexico
People of the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Secretaries of the Interior
Governors of Tamaulipas
Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians
20th-century Mexican lawyers
Escuela Libre de Derecho alumni
People from Ciudad Victoria
1890 births
1978 deaths
Escobar Rebellion
Mexican people of Dominican Republic descent
20th-century Mexican politicians
Attorneys general of Mexico