WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.139 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are really 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:07.500 unpacking a figure who is essentially the definition 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:10.779 of it's complicated. That's putting it mildly. 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:13.380 We're talking about a man whose life story it 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.199 reads like a tragic novel or maybe an action 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.940 movie that kind of morphs into a political thriller. 00:00:19.219 --> 00:00:20.920 Yeah, that's a good way to put it. He defines 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:23.859 a massive chunk of Mexican history, a period 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:27.750 literally named after him. The Porfiriato. We 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:31.269 are talking about Porfirio Diaz. It is a fascinating 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:34.009 case study in power. We often look at historical 00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:37.009 figures as, you know, static. They're either 00:00:37.009 --> 00:00:38.990 the hero on the horse or the villain in the palace. 00:00:39.229 --> 00:00:42.070 Good or bad. Exactly. Diaz manages to be both, 00:00:42.149 --> 00:00:44.289 depending on which chapter of his life you're 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:46.590 reading. And the central irony, the thing we 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:48.689 really need to get our heads around today, is 00:00:48.689 --> 00:00:51.130 that he rose to power fighting against dictatorship. 00:00:51.469 --> 00:00:54.149 His whole platform was no re -election. Right. 00:00:54.619 --> 00:00:56.899 And then he stays in power for over 30 years. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.579 That is the part that always gets me. It's like, 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:00.700 how do you go from being the guy shouting down 00:01:00.700 --> 00:01:02.600 with the tyrant to being the tyrant yourself? 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:05.480 Precisely. He becomes the very thing he fought 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:08.079 against. But to understand how that happens and 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.060 to understand the Mexico he created, modern Mexico, 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:13.780 really, we have to look at the mechanics of his 00:01:13.780 --> 00:01:15.500 rule. We have to look at the bread or bludgeon 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.340 policy. No, no. Palago. Yes. Bread or the stick. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:21.859 It sounds simple, but it was a very sophisticated 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:24.400 system of control. So for this deep dive, we've 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.180 got a stack of sources here. Biographical details, 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:29.780 military records, political analyses drawing 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:32.900 heavily from the Wikipedia entry on Diaz. And 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:35.659 our mission is to trace this arc from the young, 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:38.420 scrappy soldier to the Republican monarch who 00:01:38.420 --> 00:01:40.519 eventually had to flee to Paris. And along the 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.480 way, we need to ask, was the stability he brought 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:46.709 worth the cost? because that is the question 00:01:46.709 --> 00:01:48.989 that still haunts the legacy of the Porfiriato. 00:01:49.189 --> 00:01:51.950 You can't really understand Mexico today without 00:01:51.950 --> 00:01:53.810 wrestling with that question. Let's start at 00:01:53.810 --> 00:01:55.189 the beginning, and I mean the very beginning, 00:01:55.269 --> 00:01:56.609 because if you look at his portraits, you know, 00:01:56.609 --> 00:01:58.170 the ones where he's got the white mustache, the 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:00.989 medals, looking very European, you wouldn't guess 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.329 where he started. No, you absolutely wouldn't. 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:06.650 He was born in Oaxaca in 1830. And his background 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:08.990 was modest. It wasn't the bottom of the barrel, 00:02:09.090 --> 00:02:11.610 but it certainly wasn't the elite. Not from the 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:13.930 Mexico City inner circle. Not at all. His father 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:16.430 was a Criollo of Spanish descent who ran a small 00:02:16.430 --> 00:02:19.169 inn and an agave farm. Agave. So we're talking 00:02:19.169 --> 00:02:22.610 mezcal production. Exactly. A very Oaxacan trade. 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:26.490 But tragedy struck early. His father died of 00:02:26.490 --> 00:02:29.030 cholera when Diaz was only three years old. So 00:02:29.030 --> 00:02:31.409 he's raised by a single mother. Right. Maria 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:35.430 Petrona Cecilia Mori Cortez. And this is important. 00:02:35.909 --> 00:02:39.550 Her mother, Diaz's grandmother, was Mixtec. So 00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:42.310 Diaz is of mixed heritage, a mestizo, in a time 00:02:42.310 --> 00:02:44.409 when social stratification based on race was 00:02:44.409 --> 00:02:47.469 very, very real. He was a provincial boy with 00:02:47.469 --> 00:02:49.849 indigenous roots. And like a lot of bright kids 00:02:49.849 --> 00:02:52.629 from modest means in that era, the path up, the 00:02:52.629 --> 00:02:55.370 only real scholarship program available was through 00:02:55.370 --> 00:02:58.229 the church, right? Precisely. His godfather was 00:02:58.229 --> 00:03:00.110 a bishop, which was a huge connection to have, 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:03.349 a massive leg up. So the plan was set. Porfirio 00:03:03.349 --> 00:03:05.430 was to become a priest. He entered the seminary 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:07.750 at 15. He was learning Latin, theology, the whole 00:03:07.750 --> 00:03:10.430 nine yards. But something didn't click. But, 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:12.750 and here's the first major pivot point in his 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:16.129 life. He didn't have the vocation. He realized 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:18.710 that quiet life just wasn't for him. He had other 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:22.669 ambitions. By 1849, he decides the priesthood 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:25.629 isn't going to work. He switches to law. And 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:27.389 this is where history gets a little too poetic. 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:30.349 Because you'll never guess who his mentor was 00:03:30.349 --> 00:03:32.770 at the Institute of Arts and Sciences. This is 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:34.389 the part that blows my mind. It's like it was 00:03:34.389 --> 00:03:36.830 written for a movie. It really is. His mentor 00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:39.909 was none other than Benito Juarez. The future 00:03:39.909 --> 00:03:43.330 liberal president. The giant of Mexican history. 00:03:43.810 --> 00:03:46.990 The man on the peso notes. The very same. The 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:49.789 man Diaz would later idolize, then fight for, 00:03:49.930 --> 00:03:52.169 and eventually run against. But at this stage, 00:03:52.210 --> 00:03:55.419 Juarez is the professor. the governor of Oaxaca, 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:57.539 the inspiration. And you have to imagine what 00:03:57.539 --> 00:03:59.960 that meant. Juarez was a Zapotec indigenous man 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:02.159 who had risen to the highest levels of law and 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.060 politics. For a young mestizo like Diaz, seeing 00:04:05.060 --> 00:04:07.039 Juarez must have been electrifying. It showed 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:09.740 him a path was possible. So Juarez brings him 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:11.740 into the fold and Diaz becomes active in liberal 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:14.120 politics because of this connection. We should 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:16.899 probably clarify what liberal meant back then 00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:19.339 in Mexico. It's not today's definition. Right. 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.959 Good point. In the 19th century, Being a liberal 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.620 meant you wanted a secular state. You wanted 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:28.199 to strip the Catholic Church of its massive land 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.680 holdings and political power. You wanted a federal 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:33.079 republic. The conservatives, on the other hand. 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.560 They wanted a strong central government, maybe 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.160 even a monarchy, and to protect the church's 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.639 privileges. Exactly. So it was a war over the 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.459 soul of the country. A literal war. Several of 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:45.379 them, actually. And that's where Diaz's path 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:48.560 veers away from the courtroom. The mid -19th 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.279 century in Mexico was just incredibly tumultuous. 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:54.000 You had the Mexican -American War, the Reform 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.540 War between liberals and conservatives, and then 00:04:56.540 --> 00:04:58.800 the French intervention. And Diaz gets swept 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.060 up in all of it. He joins a battalion during 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:03.019 the Mexican -American War, though he didn't see 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:06.040 combat there. But during the Reform War, that's 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:08.360 where he cuts his teeth. He really proves his 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:10.259 mettle. And he gets hurt. Right. This isn't a 00:05:10.259 --> 00:05:13.060 guy leading from the back. Badly. He was shot 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.000 in the leg during a battle against conservative 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.420 forces. The recovery took four months, but he 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:21.000 kept coming back. He fights his way up to the 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.699 rank of general. But the real legend -making 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:26.420 moments, the things that built his reputation, 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:29.639 come during the Second French Intervention. This 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:32.360 is where he turns into an action hero. I was 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:33.899 reading the accounts of the Battle of Pueblo 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:36.680 Cinco de Mayo, and I think people forget Diaz 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:38.620 was a key player there. We always hear about 00:05:38.620 --> 00:05:41.120 General Zaragoza. Zaragoza was an overall command, 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:46.360 yes. But on May 5th, 1862, Diaz was commanding 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:49.139 a brigade on the plains to the right of the Mexican 00:05:49.139 --> 00:05:52.019 front, a critical position. When the French attacked, 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:53.399 and you have to remember, the French army was 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:55.000 considered the best in the world at this time. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:57.379 Diaz didn't just hold the line. He pushed back 00:05:57.379 --> 00:05:59.980 hard. He repulsed them and inflicted heady casualties. 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:01.879 He even pursued them against orders until he 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.240 was called back. It was a moment of pure tactical 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.339 brilliance and aggression. So he's a legitimate 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:08.860 war hero. This isn't later propaganda. This is 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:12.060 real. Absolutely not propaganda. He earned those 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.279 stripes. Yeah. And it wasn't just that one battle. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:17.540 The French eventually did take Puebla in a second 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:20.560 siege and Diaz was captured. And this is where 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.480 the action movie vibe really kicks in. The great 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:25.139 escapes. I love this part of the story. He escaped 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:27.759 confinement, rejoined the army, and eventually 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.379 became the commander of the South. Think about 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:32.860 what that means. While the French and the puppet 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:34.860 Emperor Maximilian controlled the center of the 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:38.279 country, Diaz was essentially running a one -man 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:41.240 resistance down south. He controlled Oaxaca, 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:45.319 Guerrero, Tabasco, and Chiapas. He was a warlord, 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.579 basically. But a warlord for the Republic. An 00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:50.379 excellent way to put it. Yeah. But then he gets 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:52.360 captured again. Seriously. They caught him twice. 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:54.240 He wasn't very good at not getting captured. 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:56.279 Or he was very good at putting himself in the 00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:59.639 thick of it. In 1865, he's forced to surrender 00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:02.519 Oaxaca City because he was outnumbered 10 to 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.040 1. The French lock him up in Puebla again. They 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:07.839 probably thought, OK, we've got him this time 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:10.980 for good. But they were wrong. Wrong again. He 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:13.699 escapes. The source mentions a second escape 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:16.399 after seven months. It usually involved ropes, 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:18.660 daggers slipping out in the dead of night. It's 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:21.019 incredible. He's out and rebuilding an army almost 00:07:21.019 --> 00:07:23.360 immediately. That resilience is incredible. It 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.339 explains why people followed him. He wasn't just 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:27.839 a general giving orders from a tent. He was the 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:30.620 guy who couldn't be kept in a cage. That reputation 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:33.879 for being indomitable is crucial. It gave him 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.819 an almost mystical quality. By 1867, the tide 00:07:37.819 --> 00:07:41.000 turns. The U .S. Civil War ends, which means 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.199 the U .S. can start pressuring France to leave. 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:45.319 Right, the Monroe Doctrine finally has some teeth 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:47.699 again. Exactly. The French start pulling out 00:07:47.699 --> 00:07:50.980 and Diaz goes on the offensive. He retakes Puebla 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:52.759 in what's called the Third Battle of Puebla. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:55.160 And I found a detail here that really shows his 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:58.180 character at the time. A very hard edge. Oh, 00:07:58.379 --> 00:08:01.939 what's that? After retaking the city, he executed 00:08:01.939 --> 00:08:04.379 the imperialist officers. These were Mexicans 00:08:04.379 --> 00:08:05.879 who had sided with the French emperor. Yeah. 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.459 But he didn't just execute them, he taunted them. 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:11.889 He said, quote, even though they had not lived 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:14.769 like men, they could die like men. Ruthless, 00:08:14.769 --> 00:08:18.629 but effective. That victory at Puebla cut off 00:08:18.629 --> 00:08:21.290 Mexico City from the coast. It sealed the fate 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:24.089 of Emperor Maximilian. Diaz then moves on to 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:28.170 Mexico City, takes it. And this is interesting. 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:30.430 He hands it over to President Juarez. He plays 00:08:30.430 --> 00:08:32.470 the loyal soldier. Here you go, Mr. President. 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:35.269 Your capital is ready. Exactly. But not for long. 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:38.179 No. Not for long, because this is where the story 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:40.659 shifts. The war is over. The external enemy is 00:08:40.659 --> 00:08:43.519 gone. Now the internal fighting begins. This 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:44.820 is where we get into the paradox part of the 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:47.659 title. The republic is restored. Juarez is president. 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:50.519 You'd think Diaz would be happy. He won. His 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:53.399 side won. But ambition is a funny thing. He felt 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.320 he was owed more. He was the hero of the South. 00:08:55.500 --> 00:08:58.580 He ran for president against Juarez in 1867 and 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:02.360 lost. He ran again in 1871 and lost again. And 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:04.500 here is where the soldier stops accepting the 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.580 chain of command. Diaz claimed fraud. He accused 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:10.679 his old mentor. His old mentor, Juarez, of holding 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:13.000 onto power for too long. And so he launches a 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.220 revolt. The Plan de la Norte. But the slogan. 00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:18.059 No re -election. The irony is just, it's so thick 00:09:18.059 --> 00:09:20.220 you can cut it with a knife. It is the central 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:22.700 contradiction. He argued that indefinite power 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:25.120 corrupted the presidency. He basically said, 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:27.259 Juarez, you've been in charge too long. It's 00:09:27.259 --> 00:09:29.940 undemocratic. But the revolt failed. It did. 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:32.019 The army stayed loyal to the president. But then, 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:35.440 history intervened. Juarez died in Office of 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.220 Natural Causes shortly after. So he didn't defeat 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:40.919 Juarez, he outlived him. In a way. Juarez was 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:44.559 succeeded by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. Diaz 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.220 eventually accepted amnesty. He went back to 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.600 farming for a bit. But you know he didn't give 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.840 up. No, because in 1876, Lerdo tries to run for 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:55.620 re -election, and Diaz says, absolutely not, 00:09:55.700 --> 00:09:57.860 we are doing this again. This brings us to the 00:09:57.860 --> 00:10:00.460 plan of Tuxtepec. This is the successful revolution. 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:04.720 Diaz issues a manifesto. And what's the slogan? 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:07.820 Effective suffrage, no re -election. The same 00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:09.980 principle. He is painting himself as the defender 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:12.639 of democracy against entrenched incumbents. Exactly. 00:10:12.860 --> 00:10:15.299 And this revolution has one of the best anecdotes 00:10:15.299 --> 00:10:16.639 in the whole source material. It feels like a 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.779 spy novel. Diaz is in the U .S., right? In Texas. 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:22.059 And he's trying to get back into Mexico to lead 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:23.919 the troop. So he needs to get to Veracruz on 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:27.610 the coast. Yes. He boards a steamer disguised 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:30.149 as a doctor. A Cuban doctor. A Cuban doctor, 00:10:30.370 --> 00:10:33.690 specifically. But it goes wrong. Some officers 00:10:33.690 --> 00:10:37.090 on the ship recognize him. They spot him. So 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:39.230 what does he do? He doesn't try to fight them 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:41.230 on the boat. He jumps overboard. He jumps into 00:10:41.230 --> 00:10:45.629 the ocean, tries to swim ashore, but the current 00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.269 is too strong. Or he's spotted. He gets caught 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:50.929 and brought back to the ship. That is humiliating. 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:53.059 That should be the end of the story. It should 00:10:53.059 --> 00:10:54.379 have been the end. He should have been arrested 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:56.960 and executed. But here is the stroke of luck. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.039 The ship's purser was sympathetic to him. The 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:03.080 sources suggest he might have been a fellow mason. 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:05.580 A secret handshake moment. Something like that. 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:08.840 He helps Diaz hide again inside the ship. Wait, 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:11.159 so he jumps off, gets caught, brought back, and 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.659 then hides again on the same boat. Correct. He 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:15.820 manages to stay hidden until they dock at the 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:19.110 port of Veracruz. He sneaks off. heads to Oaxaca, 00:11:19.230 --> 00:11:21.690 raises an army, and defeats the government forces 00:11:21.690 --> 00:11:24.490 at the Battle of Ticoac. That is just sheer tenacity. 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:26.830 You have to give him that. Force of will. Right. 00:11:26.929 --> 00:11:29.970 So in 1876, he marches into Mexico City. He's 00:11:29.970 --> 00:11:32.490 won. He is the president. He's the champion of 00:11:32.490 --> 00:11:34.750 no re -election. And for a moment, he actually 00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:37.649 sticks to it. This is a detail people often miss 00:11:37.649 --> 00:11:39.929 because of what happens later. He serves his 00:11:39.929 --> 00:11:44.379 first term. from 1876 to 1880, and then he steps 00:11:44.379 --> 00:11:47.399 down. She actually leaves office. He hands power 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:51.759 to his ally, Manuel Gonzalez. Why? Was he actually 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:53.759 committed to the principle at that point, or 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.559 was it something else? I think it was a strategic 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:57.659 move. Yeah. He wanted to maintain the appearance 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:00.299 of constitutional rule. He didn't want to look 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:02.500 like the dictators he had just fought. Plus, 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.259 he needed to consolidate his base. So what does 00:12:05.259 --> 00:12:06.899 he do in the meantime? He becomes the governor 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:09.220 of Oaxaca. And he even goes on what the sources 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:11.500 call a working honeymoon to the United States. 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:14.220 Oh, right. He takes his new wife, Carmen. And 00:12:14.220 --> 00:12:16.159 she's a really important figure in his life, 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:18.940 isn't she? Very important. Carmen Romero Rubio. 00:12:19.100 --> 00:12:21.000 She was the daughter of a prominent supporter 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.460 of Lerdo Diaz's enemy. By marrying her, she was 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:27.279 healing political rifts. And she was also very 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.500 upper class, very pious. She helped polish his 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:31.820 rough edges. And this trip to the U .S., this 00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:34.399 working honeymoon. It wasn't just sightseeing. 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.460 They go to New Orleans, Washington, D .C., New 00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:40.000 York. He was building business ties. He was meeting 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.399 with investors, with politicians like Ulysses 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.220 S. Grant. He was laying the groundwork for the 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:47.559 economic policies that would define his later 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:50.580 rule. He was selling brand Mexico to the Americans. 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.919 Meanwhile, back in Mexico, how is President Gonzalez 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.899 doing? The guy keeping the seat warm. Not great. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:00.720 There are corruption charges, financial troubles. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:02.899 There was the nickel coinage crisis. People were 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:06.019 furious. It's widely believed that Diaz might 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:09.220 have, well, let's just say he didn't help Gonzalez's 00:13:09.220 --> 00:13:11.600 reputation. He might have even sabotaged it a 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.759 bit. So he set him up to fail. It certainly looks 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.340 that way. Because by the time 1884 rolled around, 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:18.639 the country was sick of the chaos. They were 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:20.559 begging for the strongman to come back. They 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:22.360 looked at Gonzalez and said, this isn't working. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:24.799 They looked at Diaz and said. He can fix it. 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:28.299 And come back he did. In 1884, Diaz runs again. 00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:31.179 And this time, he conveniently forgets all about 00:13:31.179 --> 00:13:34.139 that no re -election promise. He amends the Constitution 00:13:34.139 --> 00:13:37.440 to allow two terms. Then he amends it to remove 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.659 restrictions entirely. And he stays. From 1884 00:13:41.659 --> 00:13:45.379 until 1911, he is the absolute ruler of Mexico. 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:48.610 So let's unpack the Porfiriato. Because it wasn't 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:50.610 just him sitting in a chair for 30 years. He 00:13:50.610 --> 00:13:53.049 had a very specific way of ruling. You mentioned 00:13:53.049 --> 00:13:55.830 bread or bludgeon. How did that work in practice? 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:59.330 Panopallo. It was a system of rewards and punishments. 00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:03.610 The bread was patronage. If you were an opponent, 00:14:03.769 --> 00:14:07.169 a general with big army or a regional strongman, 00:14:07.289 --> 00:14:09.269 Diaz wouldn't necessarily fight you. He'd buy 00:14:09.269 --> 00:14:11.190 you off. He'd offer you a government job. He'd 00:14:11.190 --> 00:14:12.710 give you a contract. He'd make you a governor. 00:14:12.870 --> 00:14:15.350 He co -opted them. He made them part of the system. 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:19.299 Why fight Diaz when being his friend makes you 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:21.620 rich? A kind of if you can't beat him, have him 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:23.639 join you philosophy. Precisely. And if he didn't 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.240 take the bread, if he had principles or just 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:28.639 wanted more. Then you got the bludgeon, the stick, 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:31.740 repression. He expanded the rural police force. 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:34.000 Now, these guys are interesting. They were nominally 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.919 there to stop banditry on the roads. Which they 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.980 did. And they did that. They made transport safer 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:41.659 for commerce, which the foreign investors absolutely 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:44.039 loved. But they weren't just traffic cops. No. 00:14:44.350 --> 00:14:46.429 They were his personal enforcers in the countryside. 00:14:46.830 --> 00:14:50.470 They suppressed peasant uprisings. If a village 00:14:50.470 --> 00:14:53.149 complained about land theft, the Rurales would 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:56.129 ride in. They intimidated political rivals. It 00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:58.309 was a police state disguised as law and order. 00:14:58.529 --> 00:15:01.250 He also had this motto, little of politics and 00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:03.649 plenty of administration. Which is a very polite 00:15:03.649 --> 00:15:05.909 way of saying democracy is messy and inefficient, 00:15:06.090 --> 00:15:08.909 so let's just have a dictatorship. He viewed 00:15:08.909 --> 00:15:12.549 politics, debate, elections, opposition as an 00:15:12.549 --> 00:15:15.759 obstacle to progress. He wanted scientific administration. 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:19.379 And that leads us to the scientificos, the scientists. 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.440 Yes. This was a group of advisors led by his 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.200 finance minister, Jose Yves Lementour, who were 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.480 essentially coptocrats. They were positivists. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:29.240 They believed that the country should be run 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:31.960 like a business or a machine based on data and 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.259 science. Their motto was order and progress. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:36.779 Exactly. And that sounds good on paper. Who doesn't 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:39.519 want progress? But the order part meant suppressing 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.399 dissent. And the progress part was very, very 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:44.759 top down. And you have to say, under their guidance, 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:48.539 the Mexican economy did explode. The numbers 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:51.000 are staggering for that time. The source calls 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:54.419 it the golden age of Mexican economics. The peso 00:15:54.419 --> 00:15:57.549 was strong. I think it was $3 .2 per peso. That 00:15:57.549 --> 00:16:00.809 is wild to think about now. It is. And the modernization 00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:03.710 was rapid. They built thousands upon thousands 00:16:03.710 --> 00:16:07.269 of miles of railways. Before Diaz, moving goods 00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:09.529 across Mexico was a nightmare of bandits and 00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:11.850 bad roads. He connected the country with steel. 00:16:12.549 --> 00:16:14.970 Telegraph lines connected the cities. Mining 00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:17.970 boomed. The notes mention Santa Rosalia as a 00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:20.730 specific example. What happened there? Yes, that's 00:16:20.730 --> 00:16:22.490 a perfect case study. It was a copper mining 00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:25.139 town in Baja, California. A French mining company 00:16:25.139 --> 00:16:27.639 came in. Diaz gave them a 70 -year tax waiver. 00:16:27.899 --> 00:16:30.379 Seventy years. Basically, come here, take the 00:16:30.379 --> 00:16:32.159 copper, don't pay taxes, just build the town. 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:34.799 And they did. It became a prosperous zone with 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:36.779 French architecture in the middle of the desert. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.019 But this growth had a specific flavor, didn't 00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:40.960 it? It wasn't homegrown industry for the most 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.120 part. It was foreign. It was almost entirely 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:46.759 foreign capital. Diaz and his advisors practiced 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:50.360 what they called defensive modernization. Diaz 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:54.059 is famous for the quote. Poor Mexico, so far 00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:56.500 from God, so close to the United States. I've 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.879 heard that one. It's iconic. He knew he couldn't 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.820 stop American influence. The U .S. was the giant 00:17:01.820 --> 00:17:04.779 next door, so he tried to harness it. He encouraged 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:07.240 a peaceful invasion of U .S. capital. What was 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:09.799 the logic there? He thought if American businesses 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:12.160 were heavily invested in Mexico, if they owned 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.819 the mines and the railroads, the U .S. government 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:16.940 wouldn't invade militarily because they wouldn't 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:19.440 want to damage their own assets. That is a 4D 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.950 chess move. Using their greed to protect your 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:25.170 sovereignty. It was brilliant in a way. But it 00:17:25.170 --> 00:17:28.650 meant that by 1910, foreigners owned a huge percentage 00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:31.529 of Mexico's wealth. American and British companies 00:17:31.529 --> 00:17:34.509 owned the railroads, the oil, the mines. So on 00:17:34.509 --> 00:17:37.269 the surface, Mexico is booming. There are trains, 00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:39.289 there are factories, the credit rating is good. 00:17:39.369 --> 00:17:41.609 If you were a foreign investor reading the Wall 00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:44.410 Street Journal in 1900, you loved Porfirio Diaz. 00:17:44.609 --> 00:17:46.650 You saw him as a miracle worker. But we have 00:17:46.650 --> 00:17:49.130 to look at the cost. Because you don't stay in 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:51.789 power for 30 years with a bludgeon unless there 00:17:51.789 --> 00:17:53.950 are people you need to hit. This is the dark 00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:56.170 side of the porfiriato, and it's why the revolution 00:17:56.170 --> 00:17:59.089 happened. The stability came at a massive price 00:17:59.089 --> 00:18:01.670 for the average Mexican. Let's talk about the 00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:04.509 land, because this seems to be the biggest grievance, 00:18:04.529 --> 00:18:07.009 the one that really lit the fuse. It was essentially 00:18:07.009 --> 00:18:10.089 a massive land grab. The government wanted to 00:18:10.089 --> 00:18:12.430 modernize agriculture. They thought communal 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:15.089 farming, which indigenous villages had done for 00:18:15.089 --> 00:18:19.019 centuries, was inefficient. So they hired survey 00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:21.480 companies to measure public lands. And how did 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.480 they pay these surveyors? This is the scam. They 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.500 allowed the companies to keep one -third of the 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.839 land they surveyed. One -third. That creates 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.299 a massive incentive to find as much public land 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:34.579 as possible. A perverse incentive, exactly. And 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:36.740 they often sold the rest to foreign investors 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:39.599 or cronies of the regime. But the real tragedy 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.829 was how they defined public land. Many indigenous 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:45.430 communities and small farmers had lived on their 00:18:45.430 --> 00:18:48.130 land for generations. But they didn't have a 00:18:48.130 --> 00:18:50.650 deed. They didn't have a piece of paper from 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:53.029 a courthouse. Because they never needed one before. 00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:55.670 It was just understood. Right. So the surveyors 00:18:55.670 --> 00:18:57.529 would come in and say, you have no title. This 00:18:57.529 --> 00:19:00.029 is public land. Now it belongs to us. That is 00:19:00.029 --> 00:19:02.890 dispossession on an industrial scale. The source 00:19:02.890 --> 00:19:05.859 mentions the Totonac people in Papantla. They 00:19:05.859 --> 00:19:07.720 lost their vanilla -growing lands, which led 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:12.339 to revolts. By 1900, over 90 % of communal land 00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:15.400 in the central plateau had been sold off. Think 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:19.450 about that number. 90%. That is a complete dismantling 00:19:19.450 --> 00:19:22.329 of a way of life. It forced about 9 .5 million 00:19:22.329 --> 00:19:25.309 peasants into service for big landowners. They 00:19:25.309 --> 00:19:27.509 went from being independent farmers to being 00:19:27.509 --> 00:19:30.049 debt peons on haciendas. They were essentially 00:19:30.049 --> 00:19:32.450 serfs in their own country. And the inequality 00:19:32.450 --> 00:19:34.269 in the cities wasn't much better. The source 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:36.150 mentions a really depressing statistic about 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:39.049 alcohol. Yes. In Mexico City, the number of bars 00:19:39.049 --> 00:19:43.009 went from 51 to 1 ,400 during his rule. Alcoholism 00:19:43.009 --> 00:19:45.690 rose drastically. It was a symptom of the social 00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:48.130 dislocation. People were moving to the city looking 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.990 for work, ending up in slums, and drinking to 00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:53.549 numb the misery. A while, a tiny elite circle 00:19:53.549 --> 00:19:56.509 was living in European -style luxury. Literally 00:19:56.509 --> 00:19:59.650 building French mansions in Mexico City, while 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:02.049 the vast majority were sinking deeper into poverty. 00:20:02.879 --> 00:20:05.119 There's also the issue of the church. Diaz was 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.500 a liberal, and liberals were historically anti 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:09.380 -clerical. They wanted to separate church and 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:12.339 state. But Diaz seems to have changed his tune. 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:15.940 It was, again, pragmatism. The reform laws were 00:20:15.940 --> 00:20:18.240 still on the books. Diaz didn't repeal them. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.079 He just stopped enforcing them. He allowed the 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.759 church to regain its economic power and its role 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:27.039 in education because he needed the church as 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.900 a stabilizing force. He knew the church could 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.420 help keep the peasants calm. The source gives 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:34.160 a personal reason for this, too. Something that 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.960 happened to his brother, Felix. That is a gruesome 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:40.240 story, but it explains a lot. Felix Diaz was 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.519 governor of Oaxaca and a hardline anti -clerical 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:46.279 liberal. He was aggressive. He once dragged a 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.440 saint statue through the streets to mock the 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:51.160 locals' faith. That is asking for trouble. The 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:52.900 villagers eventually caught him and killed him 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:55.059 for it. And the source implies they did worse 00:20:55.059 --> 00:20:57.960 to his body than he did to the statue. Porfirio 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:00.480 saw that. He understood that pushing the church 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.500 too hard, especially in rural Mexico, was political 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:07.000 suicide. So he made peace. He even married his 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:09.819 second wife, Carmen, who was very pious, to signal 00:21:09.819 --> 00:21:13.000 that truce. It was a way of saying the war with 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.339 the church is over. So we have a dictator who 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:18.180 has stabilized the economy, made peace with the 00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:21.180 church, and crushed the opposition. It feels 00:21:21.180 --> 00:21:22.779 like he could have gone on forever. The system 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:24.819 was locked down. It certainly seemed that way. 00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:27.609 But then in 1908, he gives an interview that 00:21:27.609 --> 00:21:30.950 changes everything. The Creelman interview. James 00:21:30.950 --> 00:21:33.150 Creelman was an American journalist for Pearson's 00:21:33.150 --> 00:21:35.690 magazine. Diaz is getting old now. He's nearing 00:21:35.690 --> 00:21:39.549 80. And perhaps feeling secure or perhaps just 00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:41.390 wanting to look like an enlightened statesman 00:21:41.390 --> 00:21:44.089 to the Western world, he told Creelman that Mexico 00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:47.150 was ready for democracy. And he said he wouldn't 00:21:47.150 --> 00:21:49.109 run again, right? That was the bombshell. He 00:21:49.109 --> 00:21:50.789 said he would welcome an opposition party. He 00:21:50.789 --> 00:21:53.339 said he would step down in 1910. Why? on earth 00:21:53.339 --> 00:21:56.019 would he say that? Did he actually mean it? Most 00:21:56.019 --> 00:21:57.940 historians think he was fishing for a compliment. 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:00.920 He expected the country to gasp and say, no, 00:22:00.980 --> 00:22:03.039 no, Don Porfirio, we need you. You can't leave 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.480 us. He wanted a mandate, but he miscalculated 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.660 badly. People took him literally. It broke the 00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:11.750 spell. Suddenly, opposition parties started organizing 00:22:11.750 --> 00:22:14.250 openly. They said, the president said we can 00:22:14.250 --> 00:22:16.869 run, so we're running. One of them was led by 00:22:16.869 --> 00:22:19.250 Francisco Esasco Madero. A wealthy landowner 00:22:19.250 --> 00:22:21.650 from the north, not exactly a peasant revolutionary. 00:22:21.890 --> 00:22:24.789 No, not at all. He was a vegetarian, a spiritualist, 00:22:24.849 --> 00:22:27.990 a very eccentric rich guy. But he wrote a book 00:22:27.990 --> 00:22:30.549 called The Presidential Succession of 1910, and 00:22:30.549 --> 00:22:32.869 it became a bestseller. It tapped into a huge 00:22:32.869 --> 00:22:35.390 well of discontent. And this all coincides with 00:22:35.390 --> 00:22:37.630 the centennial in 1910. This was supposed to 00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:40.009 be Diaz's crowning moment. The 100th anniversary 00:22:40.009 --> 00:22:42.569 of Mexican independence, it was a massive party. 00:22:42.789 --> 00:22:45.930 The source describes the program covers. It showed 00:22:45.930 --> 00:22:48.450 Hidalgo, the father of the country, then Juarez, 00:22:48.589 --> 00:22:52.210 representing Lex or law, and finally Diaz, representing 00:22:52.210 --> 00:22:54.809 Pax or peace. He was literally painting himself 00:22:54.809 --> 00:22:57.509 into the pantheon of national heroes. Absolutely. 00:22:58.059 --> 00:23:00.079 But while they were drinking champagne in the 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.220 Capitol... The country was fracturing. The 1910 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:05.680 election comes around. Diaz, who sees Madero 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.160 gaining all this support, changes his mind about 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:10.599 retiring. Of course he does. He runs again, and 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.720 Madero runs against him. And Diaz does what he 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.559 always does, the bludgeon. He jails Madero. He 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:18.500 rigs the election. He claims a near -unanimous 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:20.660 victory. But the old trips didn't work this time. 00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:24.079 No. The country had changed. The spell was broken. 00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:26.970 They wouldn't accept it. Madero escapes jail, 00:23:27.210 --> 00:23:29.849 goes to the U .S., and issues the plan of San 00:23:29.849 --> 00:23:32.589 Luis Potosi. He calls for armed rebellion on 00:23:32.589 --> 00:23:35.470 November 20, 1910. And to everyone's surprise, 00:23:35.809 --> 00:23:38.670 the Porfirian Peace collapsed like a house of 00:23:38.670 --> 00:23:41.170 cards. It was shocking how quickly it fell apart. 00:23:41.390 --> 00:23:44.150 The Federal Army was old. The generals were ancient. 00:23:44.970 --> 00:23:47.269 Diaz hadn't updated the leadership because he 00:23:47.269 --> 00:23:49.829 feared rivals. He didn't want a young, charismatic 00:23:49.829 --> 00:23:52.529 general challenging him, so he kept the old guys 00:23:52.529 --> 00:23:54.509 in charge. And they were no match for the new 00:23:54.509 --> 00:23:56.809 threats. Not at all. When the rebellions broke 00:23:56.809 --> 00:23:59.529 out, Pancho Villa in the north, Zapata in the 00:23:59.529 --> 00:24:02.269 south, the army couldn't cope. They were slow, 00:24:02.470 --> 00:24:05.410 unmotivated, and completely overwhelmed. It happened 00:24:05.410 --> 00:24:09.819 so fast. The election was in 1910. By May 1911, 00:24:10.059 --> 00:24:12.799 just a few months later, Diaz is signing his 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:15.740 resignation. The Treaty of Ciudad Juarez. He 00:24:15.740 --> 00:24:18.180 resigned on May 25th, 1911. It was the end of 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:21.440 an era. He packed his bags, took a train to Veracruz, 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:24.019 and boarded ship to Paris. And he never came 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:27.480 back? No. He died in Paris in 1915. He's buried 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.299 at Montparnasse Cemetery. And it is so telling 00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:32.539 that to this day there have been attempts to 00:24:32.539 --> 00:24:34.720 return his remains to Mexico, but they always 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.740 fail. Why is that? Because he is still too controversial. 00:24:38.379 --> 00:24:40.880 The revolution that ousted him became the founding 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.180 myth of modern Mexico. To bring him back would 00:24:44.180 --> 00:24:46.460 be to honor the villain of that story. And yet 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:48.740 he built the country. He built the infrastructure 00:24:48.740 --> 00:24:51.180 that the revolution was hot on. Exactly. It really 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:53.400 is a full circle journey. He starts as the young 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:55.539 soldier fighting for the republic, fighting against 00:24:55.539 --> 00:24:58.079 a French emperor. He ends up as an old man living 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:59.779 in France, looking very much like an emperor 00:24:59.779 --> 00:25:02.920 himself, ousted by a revolution calling for effective 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:05.960 suffrage, no re -election, the very words he 00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:08.400 used to take power. It is the tragedy of holding 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:10.680 on too long. He built the railroads. He built 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:13.319 the economy. He created the modern state. But 00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:16.539 he forgot the human element. He forgot that bread 00:25:16.539 --> 00:25:18.920 isn't enough if you have no voice and the bludgeon 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.359 only works until people aren't afraid of it anymore. 00:25:21.579 --> 00:25:23.420 And he forgot that you cannot rule a country 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:26.900 as diverse and complex as Mexico with just a 00:25:26.900 --> 00:25:29.160 spreadsheet and a police force. The pressure 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:31.440 just builds and builds until it has to be released. 00:25:31.819 --> 00:25:33.920 So wrapping this up, what does this all mean 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.190 for us today? Why should you, listening right 00:25:36.190 --> 00:25:38.549 now, care about a Mexican president from over 00:25:38.549 --> 00:25:41.089 100 years ago? I think it's a profound lesson 00:25:41.089 --> 00:25:44.569 about the cost of stability. We often crave order. 00:25:44.730 --> 00:25:47.849 We want the trains to run on time. We get frustrated 00:25:47.849 --> 00:25:50.809 with political gridlock. Diaz did that. He fixed 00:25:50.809 --> 00:25:53.230 the gridlock. But he did it by hollowing out 00:25:53.230 --> 00:25:55.470 the institutions that allow a society to correct 00:25:55.470 --> 00:25:58.309 itself. You remove the safety bells. Precisely. 00:25:58.309 --> 00:26:00.930 When you remove politics, when you remove the 00:26:00.930 --> 00:26:03.650 ability to change course peacefully, you ensure 00:26:03.650 --> 00:26:05.730 that the only way to change is through explosion. 00:26:06.190 --> 00:26:09.089 The Mexican Revolution was that explosion. Ten 00:26:09.089 --> 00:26:11.900 years of brutal civil war. It's a powerful reminder 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:15.039 that democracy might be messy, but the alternative 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:18.259 is usually brittle. It looks strong, but it breaks 00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:21.660 instead of bending. Well put. The Porfiriato 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:25.400 was a gilded cage. It was beautiful on the outside, 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.240 but it was still a cage. I want to leave the 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:30.259 listeners with one last image, a final thought. 00:26:30.619 --> 00:26:33.299 Go online and look up a photo of young General 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.660 Diaz from the 1860s. He's unpolished, staring 00:26:36.660 --> 00:26:38.960 down the camera, the scrappy fighter ready to 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:41.299 take on the French. Then look at the official 00:26:41.299 --> 00:26:44.559 photo of him in 1910, covered in gold braid with 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.279 that big white mustache, surrounded by elites, 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:50.099 looking completely detached from the dusty reality 00:26:50.099 --> 00:26:52.859 of the country he ruled. The whole story is right 00:26:52.859 --> 00:26:55.220 there in those two faces. Absolutely. The transformation 00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:57.480 from the hero of the republic to the villain 00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:59.289 of the revolution. It's all there. Thanks for 00:26:59.289 --> 00:27:00.710 diving in with us. We'll see you next time.