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Porfirio Díaz | |
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 | |
| Born | c. 15 September 1830 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico |
| Died | 2 July 1915 (aged 84) Paris, France |
| Political orientation | Liberalism |
| Political party | Liberal |
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), commonly known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican army general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until his overthrow in 1911 during the Mexican Revolution. Seizing power in a military coup, he ruled directly as president of Mexico in 1876, 1877 to 1880 and 1884 to 1911, otherwise ruling through puppet presidents. His rule, known as the Porfiriato, was the longest of any Mexican ruler.
Díaz's rule represented an alliance between the Mexican military, national bourgeoisie and Western capitalists, with Díaz providing stable rule for the consolidation of bourgeois forces. His government started the industrialisation of Mexico whilst also selling off all its natural resources, such as Oil and minerals, to the West, along with railway infrastructure and vast quantities of land. All unrest was brutally suppressed by the army, while the indigenous population suffered genocide.[1]