The Porfiriato: Mexico Under Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911)

General Porfirio Diaz seized power in 1876. Having installed himself as president, Diaz paid his respects to the principle of no re-election by allowing a trusted crony, General Manuel Gonzalez, to succeed him in 1880. Diaz returned to the presidential palace in 1884 and continued to occupy it until his resignation and flight from Mexico in 1911. The Porfiriato was one of the longest personal dictatorships in Latin American history.

Political Control and Economic Objectives

• By 1880, Diaz had granted even more lavish subsidies for railway construction to North American companies.
• Economic development was Diaz's primary objective, key to solving his problems and the nation's.
• Diaz promoted a policy of conciliation, described by the formula pan o palo (offering an olive branch and a share of spoils to all influential opponents).
• The elections to Congress, the highest organ of government, were a farce due to Diaz's control.
• Diaz's army was pathetically inadequate for purposes of national defense.
• The church was another pillar for Diaz's dictatorship; the church agreed to support him.

Concentration of Landownership

The Porfiriato saw a significant concentration of landownership, largely facilitated by new legislation:

• A major piece of land legislation was a law of 1883 that provided for the survey of so-called vacant public lands. This opened the way for vast territorial acquisitions.
• Another law in 1894 declared that a parcel of land to which a legal title couldn’t be produced could be declared vacant land.
• Another instrument of land seizure was an 1890 law designed to give effect to older Reforma laws requiring the distribution of indigenous village lands among villagers.
• By 1910, the process of land expropriation was largely complete.

Economic Advance During the Porfiriato

• Food production for the domestic market declined, while the production of food and industrial raw materials for the foreign market rose significantly.
• By 1910, Mexico became the largest producer of henequen (a source of fiber) in great demand internationally.
• By 1911, Mexico was third in the world’s oil producers.

Labor, Agrarian, and Middle-Class Unrest

Despite economic growth, social conditions led to widespread unrest:

• There was significant variation in labor conditions from region to region.
• By 1910, forced labor, outright slavery, and debt peonage were characteristic of southern states like Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas, and parts of Oaxaca and Veracruz.
• Labor conditions in mines and factories were little better than in the countryside.