Mexico, From Revolution to Revolution, Part 2

continued from part 1

1876 – Porfirio Díaz leads a revolt and seizes power. Díaz is a former general--one of the men who helped win Mexico back from Maximilian. But he's not interested in restoring the republic. After passing the presidency to a puppet in 1880, he takes it back in 1884 and doesn't relinquish it until 1911. He builds a political machine, preserving the forms of democracy without the side effect of real opposition.

1888 – Mexico works out a debt consolidation plan that puts its fiscal house in order. Foreign capital pours in, and Díaz begins to modernize and industrialize the nation. But most of the return flows to foreigners or lines the pockets of Mexico's wealthy few. Many others sink further into poverty.

1900 – Labor activist Ricardo Flores Magón founds Regeneración, a newspaper that opposes Díaz. Before long, Magón is banned from publishing in Mexico, but the reform movement gains momentum. As criticism of the regime increases, so does political repression.

1908 – In an interview with a U.S. magazine, Díaz suggests that Mexico is ready for true democracy and that he's willing to have other candidates compete in the 1910 election. Francisco Madero, scion of one of Mexico's wealthiest families, soon emerges as a leading opposition candidate.

1910 – Díaz has Madero arrested and triumphs in the phony election that follows. While out on bond, Madero escapes to Texas, declares the election invalid, and calls for armed rebellion against Díaz. He gets it, with revolutionaries like Emiliano Zapata and Francisco "Pancho" Villa leading the fight. The "Mexican Revolution" begins.

1911 – After revolutionary forces capture Ciudad Juárez, Díaz resigns and sails for Europe. Madero becomes president but soon finds himself besieged from both sides. Revolutionaries say he's too conservative. Conservatives say he's too revolutionary. Both sides attempt to overthrow him.

1913 – Victoriano Huerta, the commander of government forces, betrays Madero--who is promptly arrested, then shot "while trying to escape." Huerta assumes the presidency, but has to fight the old revolutionaries plus a new "Constitutionalist Army" led by Venustiano Carranza.

1914 – Various revolutionary factions combine to unseat Huerta then fall to fighting among themselves. The following year, Carranza and his general, Álvaro Obregón, prevail.

1917 – A constitutional convention, called by Carranza, drafts a new constitution that protects labor, nationalizes key natural resources (like oil), promises social welfare programs, places limits on the Catholic Church, and prevents the president from serving consecutive terms. Carranza becomes president but implements few reforms.

1920 – Obregón ousts Carranza with help from another general, Plutarco Elías Calles. He then assumes the presidency and defuses opposition with a clever combination of carrots and sticks. Over the next few years Obregón institutes land and education reforms. He then chooses Calles to be his successor. Calles continues Obregón's programs and steps up anti-church reforms.

1926 – Government moves against the Catholic Church lead to a Catholic insurgency, the Cristero War, which lasts three years and claims some 90,000 lives.

1928 – Obregón is elected president again, but a Catholic radical assassinates him before he takes office. Faced with a succession crisis, Calles devises an ingenious solution: he creates a political party through which he can continue to rule through puppet presidents. The party comes to be known as the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).

1934 – Lázaro Cárdenas, a new president picked by Calles, proves to be no puppet. He vigorously pursues the old revolutionary goals, especially land reform. He also drives Calles into exile, without violence. The party has outgrown the man. But it soon grows into "The Man"--a political machine that exploits revolutionary rhetoric and a vast patronage system to dominate Mexico for decades. Opponents wryly call it the "Ministry for Elections."

2000 - Vicente Fox, of the "National Action Party" (Partido Acción Nacional, or PAN), wins what many consider the first free and fair presidential election in Mexican history. Felipe Calderón, also of the PAN, wins the 2006 presidential election. The PRI is still an important player in Mexican politics, but its candidate in 2006 finished a distant third.

--Steve Sampson