Porfirio Díaz

Born to modest means in Oaxaca, Díaz abandoned seminary studies for law under the mentorship of Benito Juárez, then fought with the Liberals against Santa Anna and the Conservatives through the Reform War. He became a military hero resisting the French intervention - captured at Puebla in 1863, he escaped and commanded forces across Southern Mexico until Oaxaca fell in 1865, escaped again seven months later, and led the troops that retook Mexico City in 1867 as the Second Empire collapsed. He revolted twice against sitting presidents on the principle of no re-election, finally ousting Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada in an 1876 coup. After a single term out of office, he abandoned his own principle in 1884 and ruled continuously for twenty-seven years, presiding over economic growth and brutal consolidation: his technocrat allies enriched foreign investors and hacendados through land grabs and violent suppression of labor and peasant unrest. In 1910, despite promising democratic reform, he declared victory in a fraudulent eighth-term election; his opponent Francisco Madero called for armed rebellion, the Federal Army crumbled, and Díaz resigned in May 1911, sailing for