Ignacio González Gollaz (17 October 1924 – 24 January 2019) was a Mexican politician and businessman. He was the founder of the

Mexican Democratic Party The Mexican Democratic Party (, PDM, also known as ''El Partido Gallito Colorado'', "The Little Red Rooster Party") was a Roman Catholicism, Catholic social conservatism, social conservative political party in Mexico that existed between 1979 and 1 ...

(PDM) and a presidential candidate in the 1982 general election, in which he received 1.85% of the popular vote.

Early life and career

Ignacio González Gollaz was born on October 17, 1924, in

Amatitán Amatitán is the seat of a municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco, and is home to one of the world's largest tequila distilleries. It is the location of “La Hacienda de San José del Refugio”, a distillery which makes “ Tequila Herrad ...

, Jalisco, Mexico, into a family with strong Catholic and conservative values. His early education took place under the guidance of Jesuit priests in Guadalajara, where he became involved in the

Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...

of Mexican Youth movement that shaped his lifelong commitment to Catholic activism. In 1942, Gollaz joined the National Synarchist Union (UNS), He quickly rose to prominence as a youth leader within the UNS, organizing protests and mobilizing young Catholics to challenge the dominance of the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI).https://ru.dgb.unam.mx/bitstream/20.500.14330/TES01000205373/3/0205373.pdf
/ref> he studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Political involvement

In 1950, Gollaz moved to San Luis Potosi, it was during this time In 1954, Gollaz became director-general of the UNS, a position he held until 1975. During his tenure, he focused on expanding the organization’s influence and advocating for political reforms aligned with Catholic principles. One of his most significant contributions was his opposition to the lingering political influence of Gonzalo N. Santos, the former governor of San Luis Potosi (1943 - 1949). Despite leaving office, Santos retained control over local politics as a

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

, enforcing authoritarian rule and repressing opposition.https://escholarship.org/content/qt6kk4n8bb/qt6kk4n8bb_noSplash_f56fd709a881dd2ec178d0a73ab8f8a7.pdf Gollaz led protests and movements to denounce corruption and caciquismo in San Luis Potosi during the 1950s. His activism coincided with broader reform movements, including those led by Dr. Salvador Nava, a prominent reformist and critic of Santos.

References

1929 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Mexican politicians {{Mexico-bio-stub