LUIS ECHEVERRÍA ÁLVAREZ: BIOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT AND CONTRIBUTIONS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1922 – present) is a lawyer and politician who ruled Mexico from 1970 to 1976, as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He is currently the longest living former Mexican president in the country's history.

It was characterized by maintaining a government with authoritarian manners and plagued by violent events, among which the Tlatelolco Massacre and the Corpus Christi Massacre (also called "El Halconazo") stood out, against the student protesters.

By Josefina12, from Wikimedia Commons

In addition, during his government the Dirty War against leftist uprisings in the country was developed while he adopted a left-wing populist rhetorical position and worsened the economic crisis that occurred in the country towards the end of his term.

On the other hand, he established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after visiting the country and forced relations with Israel after supporting a UN resolution. He also tried unsuccessfully to become UN Secretary General when his term ended.

Following years an investigation was opened and he was charged and even ordered under house arrest for his role in the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968 and the Corpus Christi massacre in 1971. However, the charges were rejected by the court and he was released.

Biography

Beginnings in politics

Luis Echeverría Álvarez was born on January 17, 1922 in Mexico City, Mexico. His parents were Rodolfo Echeverría and Catalina Álvarez. Echeverría remained in Mexico City during his primary and secondary studies.

Although there is little information about his childhood, it is known that at the age of 22 he began his political career and became the private secretary of the leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), General Rodolfo Sánchez Toboada.

Then, in 1945, he managed to obtain his law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and, in addition, he taught political theory. He rose rapidly through the ranks of political circles and held several important positions in the government and the PRI. That same year he married María Esther Zuno.

In 1957 he was appointed administrative director of the Central Executive Committee of the PRI and was elected to give the main nomination speech for the next president of Mexico, Adolfo López Mateos, for the period (1958 - 1964).

In 1964, he served as Secretary of the Interior under President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. During that time and subsequent years, he maintained a hard line against student protesters that ended in the "Tlatelolco Massacre."

Participation in the Tlatelolco massacre

The event of the Tlatelolco massacre began on October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. It consisted of the murder of students and civilians by the military and police.

The massacre took place ten days before the opening of the Summer Olympics that year in Mexico City, an event for which Díaz Ordaz had invested a significant amount in dollars.

Echeverría was chosen by the Díaz Ordaz government to negotiate with left-wing students in Mexico City who threatened to interrupt the opening of the Olympic Games, as the students were not satisfied with the PRI regime and the need to restore democracy in Mexico.

Echeverría's negotiations were unsuccessful, leading to extreme violence and several hundred deaths. Echeverría largely took the blame for the breakdown in negotiations.

In this sense, he had been strongly criticized for his severe handling of student demonstrations. An estimated 300 students were killed or injured and thousands were arrested.

Campaign and presidency

A year after the incident, in 1969, he secured his election to the office of president of Mexico to begin the period from 1970. Consequently, he developed a vigorous campaign in which he visited approximately 900 municipalities and covered 35,000 miles in 29 states. Mexicans.

In addition, he had the opportunity to debate with the students and criticize the United States. At one point during his presidential campaign, Echeverría asked for a few minutes of silence to remember the victims of the Tlatelolco massacre.

Echeverría's intention was an act that angered President Díaz Ordaz and almost forced him to ask for the resignation of his candidacy. Although Echeverría wanted to dissociate himself from the 1968 repression, he had begun his presidential term bearing the consequences of the Tlatelolco massacre.

When Echeverría assumed the presidency in 1970, he embarked on a far-reaching program of populist political and economic reforms, in which he nationalized the electricity and mining industries and redistributed private land to peasants.

On the other hand, his administration was plagued by uncontrolled inflation, as well as high unemployment and illiteracy. His leftist policy caused a reduction in foreign investment. On the other hand, he opened diplomatic relations with China and supported Latin American solidarity.

End of term

As the end of his term approached, Echeverría tried to maintain a high public profile.

Finally, in 1976, Echeverría handed over the presidency to José López Portillo. The successor's advisers held out hope that Echeverría was out of the country during López Portillo's term.

In this sense, Echeverría aspired to the post of secretary of the United Nations, without success in obtaining it.

Echeverría did not want to disappear from public life after his term as president, so he remained as local political boss, retaining his position as president for life of the Center for Economic and Social Studies of the Third World.

After the presidency

In the 1990s, Echeverría began to be formally investigated for his involvement in both the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre and the killing of more than a dozen protesters by the police in 1971. Then, in 2000, he was charged with genocide for both incidents.

In 2004, a judge refused to issue an arrest warrant for Echeverría and the prosecutor accepted the judge's decision. Echeverría had denied any complicity in the murders.

In 2006, he was charged again, for which his arrest was requested for having participated in the murder of the students in 1971.

The evidence against Echeverría was based on documents that apparently show that he ordered the formation of special army units. These units committed countless murders under his orders. The group became known as "Los Halcones" and it is presumed that they trained with the US military.

After several years and numerous legal maneuvers to protect the former president, in 2009, a federal court ruled that he could not be tried for both murders.

On June 21, 2018, he was hospitalized until July 10 of that same year. He is currently 96 years old. He is the longest serving Mexican president in the history of the country.

Characteristics of his government

Repression

After a few days in government and after pronouncing the new measures and reforms for the country's democracy, on June 10, 1971, a student demonstration took place in Mexico City.

The students were surprised by a paramilitary group in the service of the state known as "Los Halcones." Although it is presumed that the president was the one who ordered the repression against the protesters, he publicly dissociated himself from the facts.

From 1972 to 1976, he ordered several sabotages against the Excelsior newspaper, directed by the journalist Julio Scherer García, which criticized the Echeverría government.

From these events, the president ordered a strategy to censor the newspaper's freedom of expression, achieving a crisis for the media and the forced expulsion of Scherar and his team.

During his mandate the so-called Dirty War took place, in which a large number of people were tortured and disappeared; in fact, the guerrillas Genaro Vázquez and Lucio Cabañas were assassinated in this event.

In the six years that Echeverría lasted as president of Mexico, a large number of kidnappings and bank robberies were unleashed by leftist guerrilla groups. Despite this, near the end of his term, the situation with the guerrillas managed to normalize.

Nationalization of companies

Echeverría came to the presidency with the intention of implementing political, economic and social programs with ideas of nationalizing many private companies and redistributing private lands for peasants in the states of Sinaloa and Sonora.

In addition, state spending on health, housing construction, education and food increased. However, the business community did not agree with his populist rhetoric and his ideas of nationalizing private companies and redistributing land; he was unpopular, even within his own party.

Economic crisis

After several years of economic growth by Echeverría's predecessors, his government suffered a severe economic crisis during his last months in office. In addition, he was accused of incurring irresponsible government spending.

On the other hand, the country presented a shortage of electricity and steel, which presented a decrease in economic growth and, in addition, inflation and unemployment increased considerably.

According to various references, in 1976, rumors began to circulate that for the first time after 22 years, Mexico would have to devalue the peso. Echeverría tried to convince the Mexicans that this was not contemplated.

Still, hundreds of millions of Mexican pesos were exchanged for the US dollar, mostly by wealthier Mexicans.

The inevitable devaluation occurred and the peso fell from 12.50 to 20.50 per dollar, a decrease of 60%. However, Echeverría blamed multinational companies for the economic problems.

Rock ban

As a consequence of the numerous student protests during the Echeverría administration, both the president and the PRI attempted to neutralize the youth after the events of the “hawk strike” and the Avándaro Rock Festival.

In this sense, Echeverría issued a ban on all forms of rock music recorded by Mexican bands. The ban was known as “Avandarazo”, in response to the rock festival that had been heavily criticized by the PRI.

Not only did he ban recordings of Mexican rock bands, he also banned live rock concerts as well as rock songs from public places. The rock deprivation lasted for several years, from roughly 1971 to 1980.

Foreign policy

During the government of Echeverría the so-called "third worldism" took place; a reorientation of Mexican foreign policy. He showed solidarity with developing nations and tried to establish Mexico as a defender of Third World interests.

The objective of Echeverría's foreign policy was to diversify Mexico's economic ties and fight for a more egalitarian and just international order. He visited several countries such as the People's Republic of China and Cuba, in addition to having strong ties with the socialist governments of Cuba and Chile.

The increase in oil prices, together with the possibility of finding new Mexican oil fields in the Bay of Campeche, gave Echeverría a solid negotiating position with the administration of the president of the United States, Richard Nixon.

Contributions

New trade routes

Luis Echeverría made important trips abroad within his six years of government; in fact, it is said that he was one of the Mexican presidents who traveled the most abroad.

In addition to visiting several countries in Latin America, he made trips to Japan, the People's Republic of China, England, Belgium, France and the Soviet Union. The intention of his travels was to open new avenues of trade. In this sense, he opened diplomatic relations with China and supported Latin American solidarity.

Social programs

One of the first actions that President Echeverría carried out was the release of most of the prisoners arrested in 1968.

As for his social program, he redistributed millions of acres among the landless peasants; In addition, it expanded social security, housing, transportation, and education programs, and invested huge sums of money in public works. It also provided food subsidies for the poorest.

On the other hand, he introduced a national planning program to reduce the population growth that was lived in Mexico.

Defense of Mexican heritage

Echeverría had as another of its objectives the preservation of the historical and artistic heritage with the development of the defense of the pre-Columbian and Mexican colonial ancestors.

On May 6, 1972, Echeverría ordered the execution of the Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological Zones to protect and prevent the destruction and looting of such monuments and jewels.

During 1972 until the end of Echeverría's mandate, the museums and a large amount of jewels of historical and artistic value for Mexico were recovered.

References

1. Luis Echeverría Álvarez, editors of Geni, (2018). Taken from geni.com
2. Luis Echeverria Alvarez, editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
3. Luis Echeverria Alvarez, Portal Your Dictionary, (nd). Taken from biography.yourdictionary.com
4. Luis Echeverría Álvarez, Biographies and Lives Portal, (nd). Taken from biografiasyvidas.com
5. Echeverría recommended the United States to improve its relationship with Cuba, Sonia Carona, (2013). Taken from elpais.com
6. Speech by Luis Echeverría Álvarez in his Third Government Report, Wikisource in Spanish, (nd). Taken from wikisource.org