Word: plutarco
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...from the fratricidal Revolution of 1910, which toppled the 34-year rule of Dictator Porfirio Diaz. In the ensuing ten years, more than 1 million Mexicans died as one faction after another tried to wrest control of the country. Finally, to put an end to the bloodletting, outgoing President Plutarco Elias Calles founded what later became the P.R.I, as a coalition of military leaders, landholders and workers dedicated to the reforms called for in a constitution that had been drawn up in 1917 but was never respected. The party promised economic equality, universal education and the return of foreign holdings...
Founded in 1929 by the republic's second postrevolutionary President, Plutarco Elias Calles, and shaped by a leftist successor, Lázaro Cárdenas, the P.R.I, was designed to prevent political disagreements from bursting into violence by drawing organizations that represented workers, campesinos and civil servants into its leadership. This corporatist approach has enjoyed remarkable success at the polls: the P.R.I, has never lost a major election, or even been threatened by the country's feeble opposition parties. But the price of P.R.I, dominance has been high. Says a prominent Mexican lawyer: "Politics has been the restricted domain of the official...
Victims of Failure. But land reform often goes wrong. One of the early land-reforming presidents, Plutarco Elias Calles, left office in 1928 disillusioned. "Happiness of the peasants," he said, "cannot be assured by giving them a patch of land, if they lack preparation and the necessary elements to cultivate it." On uneconomic small plots carved out of land fit only for cattle-grazing or large-scale farming, peasants often fall hopelessly in debt or become victims of land speculators. Those who still use the wooden stick plows of their grandfathers can scarcely scratch out a living on plots that...
After Carranza, Mexico began electing its Presidents, in 1924 chose Plutarco Elías Calles. Calles quickly turned into a dictator, suppressed the Roman Catholic Church ruthlessly. He established a dynasty of puppets that ran until 1934, when Lázaro Cárdenas was elected...
Revolution and a new national consciousness made Mexicans defensive about their language. They did not put their street signs in Aztec (the Irish went back to Gaelic), but they became sensitive about encroachments on their Spanish. In 1924, rugged old President Plutarco Elías Calles forbade use of any other language on storefronts, on signs or in advertising. All over Mexico municipalities put his decrees into local law. So Blue Bars became Cantinas Azules, Fashion Shops became Salones de Modas. After a postmaster refused to deliver mail to Chapultepec Heights, Mexico City's fashionable suburb came...