GUSTAVO DÍAZ ORDAZ: BIOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT AND CONTRIBUTIONS - HISTORY - 2025

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1911-1979) was a Mexican politician member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), president of Mexico between 1964 and 1970. Ordaz's contributions to Mexico preceded and transcended his presidency. Ordaz worked for Mexican politics from positions as varied as government secretary, senator and active member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

During his years as president, Díaz Ordaz maintained excellent relations with his American counterpart Lyndon Johnson. This fact led to a time of harmony that benefited both Mexico and the United States.

Gustavo Diaz Ordaz

Despite the contributions made by Díaz Ordaz, his time at Mexican institutions also left criticism of his management. One of the most remembered cases was his differences with the intellectual Carlos Fuentes, who blamed Ordaz for being responsible for the massacre that occurred in 1968 in the Plaza de las Tres Cultures.

Biography

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz He was born on March 12, 1911 in Ciudad Serdán, formerly known as San Andrés de Chalchicomula, located in the state of Puebla. His family was characterized by being traditional, immersed within the Mexican middle class.

Studies

When he was little, his family moved to the state of Oaxaca; Gustavo attended his first studies there. In Oaxaca he studied at the Oaxaca Institute of Arts and Sciences, and at the Saleciano College.

He studied at the University of Puebla and in 1937 he obtained a degree in Law. The thesis thanks to which Díaz Ordaz obtained his bachelor's degree was entitled The complaint appeal in civil procedure.

Political work

After graduating from university, Díaz Ordaz worked in different institutions, covering fields as diverse as the judicial, academic and political. These positions were increasingly complex, and he began to fill positions from which he had influence in the context of the time.

He held various positions in the public administration, including the secretary of Maximino Ávila Camacho, who held the position of governor. In addition, he acted as a judge, presided over the Conciliation Board and was Secretary General of the Government within the presidential term of Gonzalo Bautista O'Farrill.

Later he was a deputy in the National Congress, between 1943 and 1946; and then a senator of that same Congress, between 1946 and 1952.

Later, between 1958 and 1963 Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was Secretary of the Interior; this happened under the presidential term of Adolfo López Mateos.

Already at that time, Díaz Ordaz was considered the main representative of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (whose initials are PRI), and in 1963 he ran as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic.

Candidacy

Leftist parties supported the candidacy of Díaz Ordaz, one of the most relevant supporters being that of General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, given that he was one of the most prominent representatives of the left wing of Mexico.

The presidential elections were held on July 5, 1964, and Díaz Ordaz obtained almost 90% of the votes, well above his other contenders: José González Torres, representative of the National Action Party (10.97%), and the representatives of the Popular Socialist (62,368 votes) and Authentic of the Revolution (43,685 votes) parties.

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz took office as president on December 1, 1964, and his administration lasted 6 years, until 1970, when new elections were held. In these elections another representative of the PRI, Luis Echeverría Álvarez, was elected.

After leaving office in 1977, Díaz Ordaz was ambassador to Spain for a short period framed in the establishment of new relations with Spain, once Franco died, after 40 years of non-existent relations.

Two years later, on July 15, 1979, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz died in Mexico City. The cause of his death was colon cancer.

government

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz served only one term of government in Mexico, between 1964 and 1970. During that time, United States policy was much stricter towards the Latin American countries.

This was so because the Cuban Revolution - which had been successful - was in this context and the National Liberation Guerrilla had spread through these countries with the help of the Cuban government and the Soviet bloc.

Faced with this scenario, Díaz Ordaz chose to confront the interventionist attitude of the United States, avoiding within his own territory the possibilities of maintaining Mexican foreign policy independently.

Defense of sovereignty

The Díaz Ordaz government was characterized by vehemently defending both the sovereign territory of Mexico and the economic development of the nation.

One of the clearest examples of this vision of Díaz Ordaz is that he always chose to favor the benefits that the nation would receive over favorable conditions for foreign investors, especially those from the United States.

In this context, Díaz Ordaz also established that Mexico's banking system should be administered by Mexican nationals, not by foreign representatives. This as a consequence of the fact that he considered that the bank was one of the most relevant and influential institutions in the country.

Petrochemical rescue

The petrochemical industry in Mexico followed the same path, as the Díaz Ordaz government determined that only the Mexican state should be in charge of exploiting and developing this industry.

Mexico's state oil company, PEMEX, had signed contracts with several foreign companies, through which these institutions had the power to explore, drill and exploit territory, which included areas of Veracruz, Campeche, Santecomapan and Puerto Real.

Díaz Ordaz revoked these contracts, so that the power to explore and exploit the Mexican deposits once again was exclusive to the national industry.

Social ambit

During this period, many manifestations of violence and discontent were generated among Mexican citizens. There were many inequalities in society, and these differences became wider and deeper.

Different unions and unions held demonstrations with the intention of getting demands. In addition, intellectuals of the time published articles and books with strong criticism of the Díaz Ordaz administration. All this was evidence that opposition to the current government was growing more and more.

Operation Great Raking

The guerrillas were another element that the Díaz Ordaz government had to face. In Chihuahua and Madero there were guerrilla uprisings that could be controlled by the administration, and in Guerrero armed uprisings were carried out led by Lucio Cabañas and Genaro Vázquez Rojas, who were teachers.

The government could not confront these last rebels; As a consequence of this hostile context, Díaz Ordaz announced the start of the so-called “Great Raking Operation”.

Several historians agree that this moment was decisive in turning the Mexican army into an anti-guerrilla institution with cruel and brutal characteristics, whose range of action was the region of the Costa Grande of Guerrero.

In this social context, Díaz Ordaz advocated making public the idea that his government had generated the so-called “Mexican miracle”, created thanks to a State that promotes and guarantees the development of the country.

This figure of the State also controlled the mass media and dealt with the uprisings through punctual and systematic repressions. Díaz Ordaz described the rebels as extremists, related to Trotskyism and communism.

Economy

The Díaz Ordaz government reformed the income tax, but did not increase it, as did many other countries in the region, but in Mexico it remained as a low-burden element; in fact, this value became the lowest in Latin America.

On the other hand, the income tax went from being a cedular system, characterized by the classification according to the sources that produce the income, to another that included all the income of both legal and natural persons, which did not consider the source from which the income was generated. generated income.

In addition, a deduction regime was established, thanks to which each person or company could review and evaluate the obligations by which they were affected.

On the other hand, Díaz Ordaz united the budgets of decentralized organizations together with that of the federal government into one; This was an action aimed at optimizing budget planning for public investment.

Emphasis on natural resources

For Díaz Ordaz, the nation's economic development should focus on the use of natural resources.

In fact, one of the fundamental elements of his government proposal was the reactivation of the agricultural sector, with the intention that the Mexican domestic market would become stronger and stronger.

Along with the use of natural resources, Díaz Ordaz established that credits and investment participation from other countries should be an additional element, complementing the sustainability action carried out within the country itself.

Industrialization

The area of ​​mining had significant growth during the Díaz Ordaz government, since it led to growth of 2.6% each year. Several institutions were created, such as the Lázaro Cárdenas-Las Truchas Steelworks, the Mexican Copper Company, the Mexican Petroleum Institute and the Peña Colorada Mining Consortium.

In addition, more than 200 petrochemical plants were developed and 8 refining plants were created. Regarding electricity service, during this period there were 2.5 million new consumers and many new plants started operations; among these, the plants of Salamanca, Topolobampo, Monterrey, Malpaso, Valle de México, Guadalajara and La Laguna stand out.

Infrastructure

During the Díaz Ordaz government there was a considerable increase in public investment. However, this did not imply a disproportionate increase in foreign debt, since the president's position was to make use of it only in situations that generated foreign exchange that would help to deal with said debt.

Among the main infrastructure works created in the Díaz Ordaz government are the telecommunications tower, located in the Federal District; and the Amistad Dam, located in Coahuila. In addition, a station was created to generate communication with satellites, based in the Tulancingo valley.

More than 14,000 square kilometers of Mexico's road network were also built and the first Metro line was inaugurated in the nation's capital.

In 1968 the XIX Olympic Games were held in Mexico, and for this event the Palacio de los Deportes, the Olympic Village, the velodrome, the shooting range, the Olympic swimming pool, the boating and rowing canal, and the Sports Center were built. Mexican Olympic, among other relevant constructions.

Regarding public works, the period of the Díaz Ordaz government was one of the most fruitful in terms of the construction of houses, hospitals and schools.

At international level

During the Díaz Ordaz government, Mexico became part of the International Monetary Fund. In addition, it was he who gave impetus to the Latin American Free Trade Association (ALALC), an institution through which it was sought to confront the decrease in investment from foreign countries in Latin America.

At this time the Treaty of Tlaltelolcl was also signed, through which nuclear weapons were prohibited in that area.

In 1967 Díaz Ordaz was a speaker at the Organization of American States and the United States Congress. Likewise, it created links with the nations of Central America, with which relations of cultural and commercial exchange were deepened.

Repression

Despite the extensive development that was taking place in other areas, such as infrastructure and industrialization, the social context of the time was complex. Social inequalities were profound and the government was characterized by confronting them through strong repression.

Historians agree that at that time censorship was present in the media, as well as in publications. It was a period in which any demonstration against the government was met with brutal force.

Faced with these scenarios, Díaz Ordaz pronounced some phrases that are a reflection of his vision; one of the most characteristic is the one that reads: "Disorder opens the doors to anarchy or dictatorship."

On October 2, 1968, a strong repression was carried out against students of the organized movement in Tlatelolco. This event was known as the “massacre in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas de Tlaltelolco”. The student movement advocated greater civil and democratic freedoms, and the resignation of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

The number of deceased, missing, and even injured people is not certain. The figures are so imprecise that it is estimated that there may have been 200 to 1,500 people dead.

Contributions

farming

Ordaz's contributions to the economic development of Mexican agriculture were significant and occurred mainly during his presidency.

Ordaz maintained a trade surplus that averaged $ 491 million annually. Unfortunately, this figure dropped after his term ended and by 1983 the figure averaged $ 110 million annually.

Díaz Ordaz's policies allowed high growth in exports of Mexican agricultural products. Beans, wheat, and corn were the main products benefiting from these policies.

Treaty of Tlatelolco

One of the greatest contributions attributed to Díaz Ordaz not only benefited Mexico but all of Latin America. This was the signing of the Tlatelolco treaty in 1967.

This treaty was signed in Tlatelolco, a district of Mexico City. Díaz Ordaz was one of the main facilitators for his signature. This treaty proposed the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is estimated that this treaty, signed by the majority of countries in the region, brought with it important social and economic consequences that are difficult to estimate.

Foreign policy

In general, Díaz Ordaz's foreign policy was cordial, thus protecting the interests of his country. He contributed with his diplomacy to maintain good relations with his most important neighbor: the United States.

At the same time, Ordaz kept Mexico on good terms with Cuba in the days when Fidel Castro had won power in that country.

Development and strengthening of states

Díaz Ordaz's conservative economic policies were based on a subsidy investment strategy in the states that performed best socially and economically. This strategy maintained the good development of several states.

The Mexican left did not agree with this conventional development strategy and criticized the neglect of the poorest states.

The Olympic Games

While serving as the governor's secretary, Ordaz witnessed the site of the Olympic Games being attributed to Mexico City. He was one of the politicians who had worked the most for this goal.

The Olympic Games took place during the presidency of Díaz Ordaz. It was he who, with the help of former president López Mateos and Pedro Ramírez Vásquez, carried out the necessary actions to have Mexico City ready as the venue for the games.

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