CONTEMPORARY MEXICO: HISTORY, CULTURE, CHARACTERS - HISTORY - 2024

The Contemporary Mexico is the period of the history of the North American country that extends from the end of the Revolution to the present. The starting point is usually placed in the promulgation of the Constitution of 1917, prepared by the revolutionaries who had fought against the governments of Porfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerta.

The first Mexican president after the triumph of the Revolution was Venustiano Carranza, who was succeeded by Álvaro Obregón, with Adolfo de la Huerta as interim president between the two. These first years were of reconstruction of the country, although the total pacification would still take in coming.

Lazaro Cardenas

Plutarco Elías Calles and the so-called Maximato was another important period during the first decades of Contemporary Mexico. Uprisings and violent events continued to be very common in Mexican politics and successive governments were unable to put an end to them.

It was during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas that, according to historians, Mexico managed to stabilize. During his presidency, oil production was expropriated, making it the country's main economic source.

The changes in society, economy and culture during the contemporary period have been many. On the positive side is industrialization and the attempt to reduce inequalities, especially with an agrarian policy highly influenced by the ideas of Emiliano Zapata. On the negative, political corruption and high poverty rates.

History

Between 1917 and 1920, Mexico lived through a turbulent period, with the victors of the Revolution fighting among themselves. Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa, each one in their own territory, tried to end the Carranza government. Meanwhile, the country's economy suffered the consequences of the war years.

Finally, the troops of Villa and Zapata were defeated and, the latter, assassinated in 1919. The following year, Villa signed a final peace with Carranza. It seemed that Mexico was on the way to achieving greater stability, but the presidential succession was not going to be peaceful.

The legislature ended in 1920 and Carranza proposed a candidate to replace him. However, the revolutionary leaders did not accept his proposal and Generals Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles rose up in the Agua Prieta Rebellion.

The uprising was a success and, after a brief interim presidency of Adolfo de la Huerta, elections were held. Álvaro Obregón was the winner of them, beginning his presidential term that same year.

Government of Álvaro Obregón

The priority that Obregón set for his government was to stabilize the country. He initiated policies to rebuild it and improve the ailing economy. To do this, he allied himself with the former Zapata supporters and won the support of the peasants with several laws in their favor.

As an example of the above, large estates began to be expropriated and the lands were distributed among field workers. Similarly, he set a minimum wage and enacted legislation to end labor exploitation.

On the other hand, he highlighted the cultural flourishing experienced during that period. Both in education and in the arts, progress was very important. In fact, this stage became known as the Cultural Revolution.

However, Obregón did not have a smooth succession either. In 1923, Adolfo de la Huerta led an armed uprising. The attempt was defeated and the candidate proposed by Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, became president.

Elías Calles and the Maximato

The following years in the history of Mexico were marked by the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles. Although he left office in 1928, he continued to be the central figure of the government from the shadows until 1934. It is the period called Maximato, with Elías Calles being the maximum head of the nation.

As for his political work, Calles followed the same path as his predecessor. In this way, he relied on the workers' organizations, legislating is his favor.

As important points, the creation of the National Bank of Mexico and the great state interventionism in the economy stand out. Historians point out that, under his mandate, the foundations were laid for the country's economic development.

On the other hand, he was opposed by the church because of its laws against ecclesial privileges. This caused him to face the so-called Cristero rebellion, which even ended the life of Álvaro Obregón in 1928, when he ran to succeed Calles.

Calles promoted Portes Gil to replace him. In addition, he founded the National Revolutionary Party in 1929, the first antecedent of the PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades.

Both Portes and the next two presidents maintained the line that Elías Calles set them in their governments.

Consolidation of Contemporary Mexico

The arrival of Lázaro Cárdenas to power marked a turning point in the country. Many experts consider that this is when the modern state is consolidated.

The first thing he did was to get rid of the figure of Elías Calles and change the name of the party, founding the Party of the Mexican Revolution.

His presidency began on December 1, 1934, with a clearly social program. Like his predecessors, he paid special attention to the peasants, expropriating large estates and dividing the lands among them. In addition, he ordered the construction of social housing, gave rights to indigenous people and increased equality between men and women.

Cárdenas is also recognized for the great boost he gave to education. Thus he was the promoter of the extension of public schools throughout the rural area and founded the National Polytechnic Institute to improve technical education.

On the other hand, it was also concerned with improving transport infrastructure. Among other measures, he nationalized the railroad and expanded the road network.

An important event in the political history of Mexico was the founding, in 1939, of the National Action Party, something unprecedented in a country accustomed to single parties.

Oil Nationalization

Another of the actions of the Cárdenas government was the nationalization of oil extraction. At the time, it was in the hands of foreign companies, which used to avoid paying taxes and established poor working conditions for Mexican workers.

This caused strikes in the sector. The claims were supported by the Court of Justice, but the oil companies ignored the ruling. Given this, Cárdenas decided to expropriate them and nationalize the production.

For this he created Pemex, a state company that was in charge of everything related to oil. Although the decision provoked a boycott by several countries, eventually Pemex became the largest source of income for Mexico and remained so for decades.

Manuel Avila Camacho

Cárdenas's successor was Manuel Ávila Camacho, the first president to separate himself from the ideals defended by the revolutionaries. Thus, it stopped the agrarian reform policy and favored the nascent industrial bourgeoisie.

On the other hand, he was the creator of the Mexican Social Security, something that the employers' organizations did not like.

The Second World War affected Mexicans, like the rest of the world. The economy suffered and suffered some attacks by the Nazi army. In 1942, Mexico entered the war on the side of the Allies.

In the political sphere, they highlighted the promulgation of an Electoral Law that regulated political parties and the change of name of the ruling party. The 1946 elections marked the beginning of the era of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Promotion of industrialization

The first PRI candidate was Miguel Alemán, the first civilian president since the Revolution. After him came the governments of Ruiz Cortines and Adolfo López Mateos.

The three six-year terms were characterized by economic development, with a great boost to industrialization. Prices suffered significant increases and state social spending fell. Despite this, there were still some nationalizations, such as electricity.

In the social sphere, Ruiz Cortines granted the right to vote to women, while the labor movements took center stage protesting against government decisions.

Mexico in 1968

The stage of economic growth ended with the government of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, at the end of the 1960s. In addition, the social demonstrations were growing and, with them, the violent responses by the State.

The culmination of this repression came with the Massacre of Tlatelolco, or of the Three Cultures. The mobilization of university students ended with indiscriminate shooting by the security forces. Officially, between 200 and 300 deaths were reported, but other sources almost multiply that figure by 10.

For many historians, the arrival of the 70s marked the beginning of the least democratic stage of the PRI governments. Not only because of the repression, but because of the numerous complaints of electoral fraud throughout the country.

The wear and tear of the PRI

During the following years, with Luis Echeverría in the presidency, the government tried to return to social policies. He also benefited from international economic growth, but his term ended with the first devaluation of the peso since 1954..

The oil boom was the great asset of his successor, López Portillo. However, the 1981 economic crisis changed the entire political orientation of Mexico.

Miguel de la Madrid, Carlos Salinas and Ernesto Zedillo approached the economy from neoliberalism. In the following years, Mexico privatized more than 750 state companies.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in January 1994, was one of the most important steps in this neoliberal era.

In that year there was also the uprising in Chiapas of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, with a strong indigenous content. The situation of the indigenous people had never been fully resolved and the guerrillas asked for recognition and an improvement in their situation.

XXI century

Despite the certainty that, previously, the PRI had managed to maintain power through fraud, it was not until the year 2000 that Mexico experienced political alternation. In the elections of that year, Vicente Fox, of the Alliance for Change, managed to seize power.

In 2006 the winner was Felipe Calderón, PAN candidate, although the demonstrations due to suspicions of fraud came to paralyze Mexico City.

Drug trafficking had become a problem for the country, and Calderón acted harshly, and without much success, to end the cartels.

Meanwhile, the economy, with ups and downs, had not quite taken off and social inequalities grew remarkably. This led to the PRI, with Peña Nieto, returning to power in 2012.

Culture

The first great leap in Mexican culture occurred during the Obregón government. The secretary of education, José Vasconcelos, launched a broad campaign called "Alphabet, bread and soap." His goal was to extend primary school throughout the country.

Organized cultural missions to tour Mexico, made up of students and professionals. Their job was to act as teachers to make the rural population literate. Likewise, they gave great importance to music and the other arts.

On the other hand, Vasconcelos gave great support to great names in Mexican culture, such as Diego Rivera or Alfaro Siqueiros.

30's

Educational work continued during the Cárdenas presidency. Numerous institutions were created, such as the National Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research or the National Institute of Psychopedagogy.

Chapultepec Castle was transformed into a museum and the reception of Republican Spanish exiles fleeing the Civil War was an enrichment for Mexican cultural life.

40s and 50s

Again education was the main concern during those decades. In the 1940s, a campaign was developed to reduce illiteracy, which affected half the population.

On the other hand, in the 1950s, a program was organized that sought to make the indigenous people Spanish. The National Institute for the Protection of Children was created, very focused on rural areas.

Universities and museums were favored by the policies carried out, creating new institutions.

60s and 70s

As happened in much of the Western world, the 1960s ended with a cultural change led by the youngest. The so-called generation of '68 was more ideologically open, to the point of frequently challenging convention.

The break with the above was also reflected in the artistic field. New currents appeared in which creativity was the most important thing.

End of the century culture

The use of new means of expression, such as video or photography, marked Mexican culture in the 80s. Many showrooms appeared, especially in the capital, in which new artists showed their works made with new languages.

That does not mean that the classical arts were abandoned. Thus, several painters classified as postmodern appeared. These recovered popular and nationalist elements, reinterpreting them in her paintings.

Prominent figures

Plutarco Elías Calles

Plutarco Elías Calles was born in the State of Sonora in 1877. After participating in the Revolution, he was part of the government of Adolfo de la Huerta, occupying the War and Navy portfolio and that of Álvaro Obregón, as Secretary of the Interior.

Once he became president, he had to face the problems that plagued the country. He was one of the most outstanding architects of the stabilization of Mexico.

He received the name of Maximum Chief of the Revolution, being the true power in the shadow during the presidencies of Emilio Portes Gil, Pascual Ortiz Rubio and Abelardo L. Rodríguez. At this time it was called the Maximato.

Lázaro Cárdenas, who in principle had been his ally, did not want to continue under his influence and ordered his expulsion from the country.

Lazaro Cardenas del Rio

He is considered one of the most important presidents of the post-revolutionary period in Mexico. He was born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, on May 21, 1895. After the Revolution, he was one of those who supported the Plan de Agua Prieta, which started the uprising against Carranza.

Before launching into national politics, he was Governor of Michoacán, where he was able to verify the effectiveness of his policies.

Lázaro Cárdenas became president in 1934. His measures had a strong social and agrarian component. Its main objective was to implement the policies contained in the Constitution of 1917.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari

Its importance lies in having been responsible for changing the Mexican economic paradigm. Following the policies designed by his predecessor, Miguel de la Madrid, he privatized a large number of public companies and installed neoliberalism as an economic system.

To achieve this, he not only had to change the economy, but also a good part of the laws that defended state ownership of many means of production.

During his tenure, Mexico signed the Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the United States (1994), the final results of which are the subject of much discussion by experts.

Vicente Fox

The figure of Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico City, July 2, 1942), beyond his policies, went down in history as the first non-PRI president in more than 70 years.

On December 1, 2000, the hegemony that, for decades, had been maintained in the country broke.

References

1. Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture. Historical profile of Mexico (1821-1999). Obtained from oei.es
2. Gilly, Adolfo. Contemporary Mexico: Revolution and History. Obtained from nexos.com.mx
3. Wikibooks. History of Mexico / Contemporary Mexico. Retrieved from es.wikibooks.org
4. Mexperience. Modern Times. Obtained from mexperience.com
5. Angel Palerm, Henry Bamford Parkes and Others. Mexico. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Institutional Revolutionary Party. Retrieved from britannica.com
7. Edmonds-Poli, Emily; Shirk, David A. Contemporary Mexican Politics. Recovered from is.cuni.cz
8. Salvucci, Richard. The Economic History of Mexico. Retrieved from eh.net